A crime family and their associates used a corrupt check-in attendant to smuggle dirty cash totalling £30m out of the UK to the United Arab Emirates, hidden in suitcases.
The gang – said to be spearheaded by a British Dubai-based kingpin – smuggled the money via Dubai-bound Emirates flights leaving from Manchester, Birmingham and Brussels airports.
Couriers were recruited to shift the the criminal cash in up to five suitcases at a time, sometimes helped by corrupt Emirates check-in attendant Emma Rauf who worked at Manchester Airport.
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Investigators says the alleged organiser, who is awaiting extradition to the UK to face trial and cannot be named for legal reasons, instructed his subordinates to collect cash from organised crime groups in the UK and fly it out to the UAE without declaring it on departure as the law requires.
The couriers packed hundreds of thousands of pounds of cash at a time concealed in clothes in suitcases before being put up in expensive Dubai hotels, enjoying meals and visits to expensive nightclubs and beach clubs all paid for by their bosses.
But the conspiracy began to unravel after £788,455 in cash was seized at UK airports in two separate incidents, prompting the National Crime Agency (NCA) to launch a major investigation.
International money laundering networks use cash smuggling, cryptocurrencies, and banking systems to move billions of pounds of dirty money each year. This cash can be derived from the drugs trade and is associated with terrorism and conflicts around the world.
Rauf (nee Royle), 34, and her 32-year-old brother Ben Royle, both of Park Road in Wilmslow, Cheshire, were also involved in the money laundering.
Rauf abused her position as a check-in desk attendant by waiving through suitcases full of cash flown out by couriers even when they were in excess of the weight limit. When she was not working she liaised with colleagues who were, instructing them to treat excess baggage in the same way.
When one of the couriers was stopped by Border Force agents, and the cash seized, Rauf made enquiries to help avoid fellow couriers being caught.
She reported sick and flew to and from the UAE herself seven times over a period of seven months. Mobile phone messages showed that she knew the alleged organiser was flying cash-carrying couriers on the same route. She was arrested at an address in Middleton in 2019.
She changed her plea to guilty on 23 March this year after initially denying the offence of entering into or becoming concerned in a money laundering arrangement to remove cash from the UK to Dubai.
In October 2018 Rauf and Royle collected £406,500 of criminal cash and left it in the boot of her car which she parked on her parent’s drive in Hale, Trafford.
Someone broke into the car and stole the cash, prompting the alleged organiser to ask the pair to take lie detector tests to prove they had not taken it.
Later a gunman sprayed the parent’s house with bullets, one of which penetrated the front door. Several other bullets went through the living room window, one of which went through a sofa before lodging in the wall behind. Fortunately, nobody was home at the time.
The shooting followed threats from the criminal who owned the money that anyone found responsible for stealing it would be killed, according to investigators.
The money laundering arrangement worked by gang members collecting cash from criminal groups around northern England including Manchester, Liverpool, Southport, Sheffield and Huddersfield.
Sophie Logan, 31, of Staker Lane, Mickleover, Derby, who had been living in Dubai, said she worked as a personal assistant to the alleged organiser. She flew to and from Dubai 38 times over a two-year period, declared cash totalling £2.2m on arrival in Dubai on 14 occasions.
Devanyl Graham, 26, of Burking Road, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, flew to Dubai 18 times declaring a total of £3.1m in cash on arrival.
Heather Jeffrey, 58, the alleged organiser’s aunt, her son Sheldan Noel, 30, both of Potter Close, Bradford, and daughter Lamara Noel, 34, of Loweswater Avenue, also Bradford, collected cash from organised crime groups and flew it to Dubai.
They smuggled out at least £4,051,558; £5,894,048; and £1,237,500 respectively. The alleged organiser used a WhatsApp group to instruct the trio, with messages showing that Jeffrey was told to pick up cash from Huddersfield and Sheffield in May 2018.
Ben Royle recruited friend, Sheikh Jobe, 33, of Sealy Walk, Manchester, to fly £306,040 in cash from Manchester Airport in October 2018. The cash was detected in Jobe’s luggage after he had checked it in, resulting in his arrest and the money being seized.
A jury at Bolton Crown Court convicted Devanyl Graham, Sheldan Noel, Lamara Noel, Jeffrey and Sophie Logan this week following a 12-week trial. Emma Rauf changed her plea to guilty on 23 March, with Royle and Jobe pleading guilty at hearings before the trial started.
Logan, Graham, Sheldan Noel, Royle, Lamara Noel, Jeffrey and Jobe are due to be sentenced at the same court on 1 October, while Emma Rauf’s sentencing is due to take place on 30 October. Each defendant was convicted of a single count of entering into or becoming concerned in a money laundering arrangement between the 14 December 2017 and 15 November 2019, contrary to section 328(1) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
After the sentencing, NCA branch commander Jon Hughes said: “This crime group smuggled cash from crime out of the UK on an industrial scale, to remove it from the scrutiny of law enforcement and launder it.
“Emma Rauf enabled many of these trips by exploiting her position as an airline employee to waive through suitcases stuffed with money to avoid detection by law enforcement.
“Cash is the lifeblood of organised crime groups. It fuels violence and insecurity around the world. Criminals are prepared to unleash violence to maintain control as the horrific shooting at Emma Rauf’s family home shows. This could have easily led to death or serious injury had someone been there, showing that Rauf and Royle recklessly placed their family in grave danger.
“Disrupting the supply of such illicit cash is a priority for the NCA and our partners.
“We will continue to target cash couriers and hit crime groups where it hurts – in the pocket – and those who hold roles or positions that facilitate serious and organised crime. We also work with other agencies to target the issue of insider threats at ports and airports.”