Malaysian police have seized 284 boxes of designer handbags and 72 bags of cash, jewellery and watches belonging to the former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak and his wife, as part of an investigation into his role in the 1MDB scandal.

The police began a search of properties linked to Najib on Wednesday night and it was still ongoing on Friday morning. The raid on the properties in Kuala Lumpur’s Pavilion Residences, where condominiums cost up to 30m ringgitt ($8m), produced the biggest haul yet, with police seen carting hundreds of orange boxes containing designer Hermes Birkin handbags into five police trucks.

Quick Guide 1MDB Show The scandal 1Malaysia Development Berhad, was set up in 2009 to promote economic development. The Malaysian prime minister, Najib Razak, chaired its advisory board and, according to the US Justice Department, top executives and associates of Najib looted $4.5bn from the fund between 2009 and 2014, laundering it through the US, Singapore, Switzerland and other countries. Hundreds of millions landed in Najib's bank account, though he denies any wrongdoing. Where the money went The US Justice Department is seeking to recover money from the fund it says was gambled in Las Vegas, used to buy hotels, apartments, a luxury yacht, a jet, diamond jewellery, art works and to finance Hollywood films including the Wolf of Wall Street and Dumb and Dumber To. The investigation US prosecutors have alleged layers of foreign bank accounts and shell companies were used to launder the money and named Low Taek Jho, a friend of Najib’s stepson, as a key figure in the conspiracy. In one email he wrote "Looks like we may have hit a goldmine" after organising a 1MDB deal that would later allegedly become a money laundering vehicle. Singapore has fined eight banks for failing to carry out proper anti-money laundering measures in relation to 1MDB and given prison sentences to several bankers. Political impact A parliamentary inquiry found many irregularities but had no mandate to prosecute so, outraged by the scandal, 92-year-old former leader Mahathir Mohammad came out of political retirement and opposition united behind him for the elections. The government recently passed a "fake news" law that could be used to further stifle reporting on the case within Malaysia.

Local media reported that police also emerged with a money counting machine.

Amar Singh, director of police commercial crime investigations, confirmed that a total of six properties had been searched so far. “The total sum worth of items cannot be ascertained now,” Singh told reporters on early Friday morning. “We’ll be counting and will know by tomorrow. He added: “The number of jewellery is rather big.”

The raid is part of a police investigation into Najib’s role in the 1MDB scandal, in which billions of dollars of a government fund went missing and were embezzled around the world, funding yachts, Picasso paintings and Hollywood films. Some $681m of the fund was alleged to have been transferred directly into Najib’s personal bank account, and the 1MDB money also allegedly funded a 22-carat pink diamond necklace, worth $27.3m, for his wife Rosmah Mansor.

Najib was cleared of all wrongdoing while he was in power, but the investigation is widely perceived to have been a farce, and some in his administration have since accused him of covering up the scandal.

Director of Commercial Crime Dept spoke to media in wee hours this morning from pavilion residence . 284 boxes containing branded bags and 72 cases containing jewelry , cash and watches . Actual worth yet been quantified : Amar Singh pic.twitter.com/SdWRBWZkQ6 — Melissa Goh (@MelGohCNA) May 18, 2018

The lavish lifestyle of Najib and Rosmah, who is notorious for her love of designer handbags and expensive jewellery, has long been a source of contention in Malaysia. The annual salary of the prime minister is only $70,000, whereas one Birkin handbag can cost up to $300,000. It is also a stark contrast to the frugal lifestyle of the newly elected prime minister, 92-year-old Mahathir Mohamad, who was recently spotted going about his official duties in sandals costing $4.

Najib’s large family home in an affluent neighbourhood of Kuala Lumpur was also part of the raid, with the road to his house cordoned off.

Locksmiths were summoned to the property in the morning to break open a safe, which had apparently not been opened for two decades because the family had lost the key. On Friday afternoon, eight officers from the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) were also seen entering the house.

In a statement on Thursday night, Najib’s lawyer, Harpal Singh Grewal, criticised the search as “unwarranted hassment”, and added: “This harassment has now continued for almost 18 hours and nothing meaningful has come from the search and seizure of what would appear to be insignificant personal items.”

News of the raid on Najib’s house became a nationwide talking point, with an endless stream of onlookers visiting the neighbourhood to see the cordon around their former prime minister’s property for themselves. One group had driven hundreds of miles from the state of Penang to take photos of themselves at the raid. Taking selfies next to the blue police tape, Amer Kent said: “We came to see the thief’s house.”