A man whose parents' Greater Manchester home was shot at while he was involved in a £22 million cash smuggling enterprise complained to a judge that he had been forced to move back to the UK from Dubai.
Couriers posing as holidaymakers smuggled the cash, which a court heard was being laundered for organized criminals 'including high-level drug dealers', in up to five suitcases at a time. 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 over an almost two-year period from December 2017 to November 2019.
Corrupt check-in attendant helped gang
They were sometimes helped by a corrupt Emirates check-in attendant, Emma Rauf, from Cheshire, who worked at Manchester Airport. Investigators said that the alleged organiser, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, instructed his subordinates, including in a WhatsApp group, to collect cash and fly it out to the UAE without declaring all of it on departure, as the law requires.
They were then put up in expensive Dubai hotels, enjoying meals and visits to expensive nightclubs and beach clubs all paid for by their bosses. But the 'industrial scale' conspiracy began to unravel after £788,455 in cash was seized at UK airports in two separate incidents.
Eight convicted of money laundering
Eight people - Emma Rauf, Benjamin Royle, Heather Jeffrey, 58, her son Sheldon Noel, 27, her daughter Lamara Noel, 34, Devanyl Graham, 27, and Sheikh Jobe, 33 - have been convicted of money laundering for their part in the scheme.
A sentencing hearing for six of them got underway at Bolton Crown Court today (Thursday, October 1), with Sheldon Noel and Rauf are to be sentenced at a later date. The group between them couriered 'just under £22 million', prosecutor Bill Baker KC told the court.
The court heard Jeffrey, who made ten trips to Dubai and laundered 'at least £5m', 'lived the high-life', on one occasion taking more than £2,000 in cash to Turkey 'for cosmetic surgery.' She also went on numerous luxury holidays, including to Jamaica and the Gambia.
Her daughter, Lamara Noel, made ten trips carrying a total of 'just over £2.5m.' On one occasion, she was in the emirate for just a day. Graham made 18 trips and carried 'at least £4 million,' it was heard. Logan, who carried more than £3.9m on 38 trips, used her cut to 'fund a party lifestyle.'
Shooting at parents' home
Royle was individually responsible for smuggling 'at least £1.2 million', Mr Baker said. He 'recruited' his 'good friend' Jobe, who tried to smuggle £306,040 through Manchester Airport in October 2018. However, the cash was detected by an X-ray scanner after he had checked-in.
Messages were found on his phone from Royle, first telling him to 'go no comment', and then advising him to say the money was from 'selling art.'
Later that month, Royle was storing half a million pounds in cash at his then apartment in Manchester city centre when 'men in ski masks tried to break in', Mr Baker said. A week later, Rauf and Royle collected £406,500 in cash and left it in the boot of a car on his parents' drive in Hale, where it was stolen.
The NCA earlier said this prompted the alleged kingpin of the laundering op to ask the pair to take lie detector tests to prove they had not taken it.
Later, a gunman sprayed the parents' house with bullets, one of which penetrated the front door. Several 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.
Graham, of Burking Road, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, Heather Jeffrey and Sheldon Noel, both of Potter Close, Bradford, Lamara Noel, of Loweswater Avenue, Bradford, and Logan, of Stalker Lane, Derby, were all convicted of being involved in a money laundering arrangement in June following a 12-week trial.
Royle, of Redcliffe Road, London, and Jobe, of Sealey Walk, Miles Platting, and Rauf, pleaded guilty to the same charge at earlier hearings.
Jane Greenhalgh, defending Jobe, said he had graduated from Salford University and had started a master's degree. She said he had also been involved with a radio station in Gambia. This was a one-off offence, born out of poor judgement on the part of my client” she said.
Move back to UK caused 'massive upheaval'
Abbas Lakha KC, defending Royle, said he left school at a young age and began working for his father's removal business, and as a result, he had 'lived a sheltered life' and had 'no experience of the outside world.' He said he was 'starstruck' by the alleged organiser and that after he paid for him and his now wife to go to Dubai he felt 'indebted' to him.
He said during his involvement, he received an 'Osman' (threat to life) warning from the police and that the shooting at his parents' home in Hale caused 'terror and upset.' Before his arrest, he already believed his decision to become involved was one he would 'regret for the rest of his life', Mr Lakha said.
He said Royle 'pulled away from the enterprise voluntarily' and had moved to Dubai to 'start a new life.' He said he had set up an online business selling health supplements, which had 'become successful' and also set up another business, 'mentoring young people.'
He said he had 'already been punished' through the shooting and the fact that he and his wife had had to move back to the UK following his prosecution, which he said had caused 'massive upheaval.'
Annabel Hale said Logan had moved to Ibiza to become a hairdresser immediately after finishing college and had been 'sucked into a party lifestyle.' She said following her offending, she became a hairdresser again and spent four years living an 'ordinary, law-abiding lifestyle' in Dubai before her arrest.
The court was told that 'impressionable' Graham grew up 'surrounded by criminals' who 'made the criminal lifestyle seem extraordinarily glamorous.' Jeremy Barton, defending, said he had 'reflected, accepted and shown insight' into his crimes.
However, Judge Hudson said after hearing from him in the trial, Graham was 'very good at saying things that are not true.'
The judge said she was 'not able to conclude' that Heather Jeffrey had 'involved her children' in the racket but said she believed she 'did not discourage' them. Rick Holland, defending her, said her 'emotional wellbeing' had been 'much tested' by the 'anticipated absence' from her three dependent children, including two twins, which he said would cause 'emotional turbulence.'
Buntyal Batra, defending Lamara Noel, asked that the court be cleared of the press and public whilst a 'particularly sensitive' part of his mitigation was given.
Judge Hudson agreed to the request, despite an objection from the Manchester Evening News. The judge said it was 'unlikely to make a material consideration in sentence' and that she didn't deem it 'appropriate' for it be disclosed publicly.
Once all parties had returned to court, Mr Batra said Lamara Noel had worked as a nurse at Bradford Royal Hospital, during both the time of the offences and Covid, saying she had 'served her community.'
He said that during her trial she suffered a 'psychiatric breakdown' and was sectioned on a mental health unit, but 'to her credit' she returned to court and gave evidence from the witness box. He said a custodial sentence would likely see a 'significant deterioration' in her mental health as he appealed for any jail term to be suspended.
The judge will pass sentence on six of the defendants on Friday. Sheldon Noel, who the court heard is currently unwell and not fit to appear in court, and Emma Rauf, will be sentenced at a later date.
