The leader of a gang that smuggled more than £100 million in cash to Dubai for criminals across the UK has been jailed for more than nine years.
Abdulla Mohammad Ali Bin Beyat Alfalasi employed dozens of people to transport suitcases full of cash out of the UK between April 2019 and November.
The father-of-six, who watched the hearing at Isleworth Crown Court with the help of an Arabic interpreter, was jailed for nine years and seven months after pleading guilty to removing criminal property.
Described as the largest money-laundering organization of its kind has been shut down by the National Crime Agency, the business has illegally transported a total of £104 million.
The 47-year-old will pay his mules between £3,000 and £8,000 for a total of 83 trips, acting as a money-laundering service for dozens of drug cartels across the UK.
Each suitcase will hold up to £500,000 and will be packed with coffee grounds or air fresheners to try to fool sniffer dogs.
Alfalasi will also pay couriers traveling in business class to make the most of the extra baggage.
When they arrive in Dubai, they will use a company founded by Alfalasi called Omnivest Gold Trading to cover the cash declarations and will be back in the UK a few days later with empty bags.
The funds will then be converted into dirhams, with some used to buy gold in Africa or cryptocurrencies, before being released back to UK customers.
Some money was found in the property of Tara Hanlon
How did the smuggling ring break?
The operation was eventually discovered when recruitment consultant Tara Hanlon, 31, was stopped at Heathrow Airport with £1.9 million worth of luggage in vacuum-packed bags.
Just a month later, Zdenek Kamaryt, 39, a Czech national, was arrested as he tried to board a flight from Heathrow to Dubai with £1.3 million in cash in his pocket.
Last year, Hanlon, who admitted money laundering involving more than £5 million, was jailed for 34 months and Kamaryt sentenced to 26 months after pleading guilty to money laundering.
Before recruiting his network, Alfalasi brought £6m with him on 10 trips to the country.
He went on to ask Michelle Clarke, a British woman he met in Dubai, to help recruit a total of 36 people to make the trips.
One person, Nicola Esson, 55, from Leeds, checked 19 suitcases on three occasions in August and September 2020, claiming a total of £6.4 million.
Nicola Esson
Muhammed Geyas Ilyas, 29, from Slough, took a total of £2.5m over two trips and was arrested on a flight back to Heathrow in February 2020 after Border Force officers found him A bag that went missing at the airport contained £431,000 in cash. .
Both have pleaded guilty to removing criminal property and are awaiting sentencing, while Clarke is still believed to be in Dubai and wanted by the National Crime Agency.
Muhammed Geyas Ilyas
Phone, photo and credit card
In December last year, Alfalasi was arrested at an apartment owned by his wife’s wealthy family in Belgravia, central London.
Inside, officers discovered three phones containing multiple messages between him and others talking about collecting, consolidating and moving cash.
The phone also has pictures of suitcases full of cash, cash register readings and a courier’s itinerary, with Alfalasi checking at every stage of the process to make sure the money is transferred. Safely arrive in Dubai.
The credit card that was used to purchase the plane ticket has also been revoked.
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‘Drawing the lifeblood of organized crime’
The NCA said the “international control network” operates at the height of global money laundering and is “one of the largest cases” it has ever investigated.
“Cash is the lifeblood of organized crime groups that reinvest in activities such as drug trafficking, causing violence and insecurity across the country,” said senior investigative officer Ian Truby. world.
“Disrupting the illegal cash supply is a priority for the NCA and our partners.
“The investigation is ongoing and we will do all we can to bring more offenders to confession.”
