Britain extended a freeze on assets to a further 20 members of Libyan leader Muammar Gadafy's entourage today and has impounded around £100 million sterling (€116 million) of Libyan currency.
Around £2 billion of assets belonging to Libyan interests are believed to have been frozen under sanctions against Col Gadafy's government after its violent crackdown on protests against Col Gadafy's 41-year rule.
The asset freeze was imposed last week and initially applied only to Col Gadafy and his immediate family. It now extends to 26 people.
"The Chancellor is determined that the UK and international community does all that it can to ensure that financial assets cannot be used against the interests of the Libyan people," British finance minister George Osborne's department said.
British authorities seized the cargo of Libyan currency from a ship that returned to its waters on Wednesday after it was unable to dock in the Libyan capital of Tripoli because of security concerns.
The boat eventually docked in Harwich, eastern England, where British border guards unloaded its containers and took them to a secure location.
British prime minister David Cameron said earlier this week that Britain had blocked a separate shipment of £900 million in banknotes destined for Libya.
Treasury officials and HSBC refused to comment on reports that the bank holds many of the cash and assets affected by the freeze.
The Libyan Investment Authority, the country's sovereign wealth fund, has a stake of morethan 3 per cent in Pearson, publisher of the Financial Times newspaper. That stake has been frozen.
Reuters