Convicted money laundering cash couriers “smuggled millions”

The network transported the cash to Dubai during 83 separate trips between November 2019 and October 2020, all of them overseen by ringleader Abdullah Alfalasi, aged 48, who was jailed for more than nine years in July last year.

The couriers, who were paid around £3,000 for each trip and would be booked on business class flights due to the extra luggage allowance, communicated on WhatsApp groups, including one titled ‘Sunshine and Lollipops’.

Beatrice Auty (aged 27, from London), Jonathan Johnson (aged 55) and Jo Emma Larvin (aged 44, both from Ripon in North Yorkshire) and Amy Harrison, 28, from Worcester Park in Surrey were convicted following a trial at Isleworth Crown Court on 26 April this year.

Two other couriers from the same network were convicted at earlier hearings and were sentenced alongside them on 12 July.

International controller networks

Adrian Searle, director of the National Economic Crime Centre within the National Crime Agency, said: “The laundering of such vast quantities of cash around the globe enables organised criminals and corrupt elites to clean or otherwise hide their ill-gotten gains. Cash smugglers work on behalf of international controller networks, who move the finances of the international drug trade, people traffickers, fraudsters and other criminal groups.”

Searle added: “This case demonstrates the continued commitment to crack down on money laundering and target organised crime groups who cause misery and ruin lives.”

Investigators established that Tara Hanlon, who was convicted in June 2021, had briefed another courier about the operation. That courier had travelled from Heathrow Airport to Dubai on three occasions in August and September 2020, checking in 18 suitcases contained a total of £6.8 million.

Auty, who was arrested following National Crime Agency raids in May 2021, travelled the same route twice in July and August of that year, checking in seven suitcases containing £3.4 million. Czech national Zdenek Kamaryt, who was convicted of money laundering in March 2021, joined her on the second trip.

Auty was involved in the logistical arrangements for another 16 trips, helping to pack cash into suitcases, accompanying travellers to Heathrow Airport and collecting empty suitcases when they returned so that they could be used again.

Larvin made two trips to Dubai in August and September 2020: one with Amy Harrison when they took seven cases between them containing £2.2 million and another with her partner Jonathan Johnson, when they took eight suitcases containing £2.8 million.

Larvin and Johnson were arrested at Manchester Airport in March 2022.

Harrison made three trips between July and September 2020, taking 15 suitcases containing around £6 million.

Drug dealing

The network collected cash from criminal groups around the UK, which was mainly the profits of drug dealing, and took it to counting houses that were rented apartments in central London.

The money was then vacuum-packed and separated into suitcases, which would typically each contain around £500,000. They were sprayed with coffee or air fresheners in an effort to prevent them being found by trained sniffer dogs.

Ian Truby, senior investigating officer at the National Crime Agency, explained: “These couriers smuggled cash out of the UK on an industrial scale at the behest of organised crime groups. They were prepared to travel out to the United Arab Emirates for a holiday in the sun in return for a cut of the profit. This case demonstrates the National Crime Agency’s commitment to targeting the criminal networks involved in money laundering. Profits are often re-invested into criminal activities such as drug trafficking. This fuels violence and insecurity in the UK and across the world.”

Additional couriers sentenced

The other couriers sentenced are as follows:

Nicola Esson, 56, from Leeds, who was arrested in May 2021. Esson travelled from Heathrow Airport to Dubai on three occasions in August and September 2020, checking in 19 suitcases with a combined weight of almost half a tonne.

Muhammad Ilyas, aged 30, from Slough, was arrested by National Crime Agency officers at Heathrow Airport in February 2020 after arriving on a flight from Dubai. He had checked in four suitcases at the airport ten days earlier, one of which had gone missing, and declared almost £1.5 million in cash to Dubai Customs officers. The missing suitcase was subsequently found by Border Force officers and contained £431,360 in cash. He had made one previous trip in January 2021, declaring £1 million on that occasion.

At Isleworth Crown Court, Auty was sentenced to 42 months’ imprisonment, Johnson to 12 months’ imprisonment suspended for two years, Larvin to 24 months’ imprisonment suspended for two years, Harrison to 24 months’ imprisonment suspended for two years, Esson to 22 months’ imprisonment suspended for two years and Ilyas to 15 months’ imprisonment suspended for two years.

The National Crime Agency’s investigation has been supported by Border Force and the United Arab Emirates authorities. A number of British couriers are under investigation in the United Arab Emirates and cannot leave the region until inquiries have been completed.