A network of smugglers flew business class to gain extra luggage allowances, moving more than $1 million at a time from London to Dubai By Margot Patrick Updated Jan. 13, 2024 12:01 am ET An image from CCTV footage released by the U.K.’s National Crime Agency shows one of the smugglers at London’s Heathrow Airport. PHOTO: NCA They looked like ordinary tourists with very big bags. But like a network of ants, they carried off tens of millions of dollars in cash from London to Dubai. British crime fighters cracked a money-laundering network that they say moved more than £100 million, equivalent to $125 million. A London court found two men guilty of illegal smuggling on Thursday, taking convictions in the network of cash couriers to 16, according to the National Crime Agency. The network’s couriers, typically posing as tourists, were paid up to £5,000 to carry the cash bags. They flew business class for the extra luggage allowances, and moved £1 million or more by checking-in three or four suitcases. Photos and videos released by the NCA show some of the couriers in sandals wheeling suitcases through Heathrow Airport and the views from their hotel rooms in Dubai. The NCA probe found the crime ring’s members counted and vacuum-packed money received from other criminal gangs in London apartments, and then locked it into suitcases to be picked up by couriers. Once on the ground in Dubai, the couriers were sent an image of a letter to show customs officials for customs declarations, and given codes to open the suitcase locks. Then the couriers would check into five-star hotels for a few days, the NCA investigators said. Vacuum-packed bundles of cash in a suitcase seized by authorities at Heathrow Airport. PHOTO: NCA Britain for years has been trying to stamp out money being laundered through its banks and real estate, particularly from overseas. Financial crime lawyers say the tightening in rules and laws has made it harder for crime gangs to wash their money in traditional ways such as through shell companies or small businesses. Bitcoin also has proven to be problematic for criminals. Physical transportation, including hiring couriers for relatively small sums, has become an alternative. Adrian Searle, director of the NCA’s national economic center, said going after the low-tech form of moving money targets the heart of criminal business models. The NCA said it first encountered the network in 2020, when customs officers discovered £500,000 in a misplaced bag on its way to Dubai. Later that year, customs officers stopped two women carrying suitcases with large amounts of cash. Ali Al-Nawab PHOTO: NCA Mehdi Amrollahbibiyouki PHOTO: NCA NCA investigators seized the cash and scraped it for DNA and fingerprints and studied its packaging, tying it to a man suspected of other crimes. In a search of one of the women’s homes, investigators found that she had traveled to Dubai before and declared to customs officials there that she was bringing in millions of pounds for a local company. The investigators linked a phone number and email used to book the women’s flights to other couriers, and to an alleged ringleader who ran the company in Dubai. They found the group communicated on WhatsApp groups, including one named “Sunshine and lollipops.” Couriers made 83 trips between November 2019 and October 2020, the NCA said. Its officials suspect most of the money comes from drug dealing, and said dirty money built up in the U.K. during the pandemic and needed a way out. The biggest note in England is for £50, although Scotland, which issues its own paper money, has some £100 notes. The eurozone phased out €500 notes because of their potential for use in crime, and some have called for the same for the $100 note. Ali Al-Nawab, one of the men convicted Thursday, had packed or carried more than £11 million cash for the network, the NCA said. The other, Mehdi Amrollahbibiyouki, carried £3.2 million over two trips, the agency said. Lawyers for the men couldn’t immediately be reached. Many of the convicted couriers have received suspended sentences and a type of community service. The ringleader was sentenced to nine years in July 2022. The NCA said he was arrested on a visit to London with his family in December 2021 to see the Christmas lights. Data on three phones he had with him helped unravel the network. His cut to launder the money for gangs was around 10%, the NCA said. Officials said the ringleader racked up loyalty points on his Emirates airline card for all the business flights he booked for couriers, earning first-class flights for himself. The authorities said the frequent-flier miles helped to trace the activities.
You don't ever bring a large sum through an airport, even if its from legitimate sources. All they have to do is "Think" it cam from illicit sources and they give themselves the right to seize it. I don't know how accurate this article is, but sometimes the writers can be paid to change things to make it look more like a legitimate seizure.
These are small time operators. A real money laundering operation, we are talking billions: https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/poli...ion-money-laundering-case-what-we-know-so-far
Why didn't the network convert it to uncut diamonds and then just smuggle it? I remember reading that's what a lot of the Heroin money flows from Dubai to Bombay.