Eight people have been convicted for their part in an 'industrial scale' money laundering scheme that smuggled millions of pounds in cash to Dubai, with six of them sentenced at Bolton Crown Court on Friday, October 2.
The group posed as holidaymakers, checking in on Emirates flights at Manchester Airport for what they claimed were short breaks in Dubai. In reality, they were carrying bundles of dirty cash concealed inside clothes in their suitcases, part of a scheme that laundered millions of pounds for criminals, including 'high-level' drug dealers.
Operation led by Dubai-based kingpin
At the heart of the operation was a British Dubai-based kingpin, alleged to be the 'controlling mind.' A judge said he had 'chosen not to face the court.' He is awaiting extradition to the UK to face trial, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said. He cannot be identified for legal reasons.
Members of the gang were put up in expensive Dubai hotels and had meals and visits to expensive nightclubs and beach clubs paid for. However, sometimes they were in the city state for just a matter of hours before catching return flights to pick up more cash.
The alleged 'organizer', who the court heard 'took a 20 percent commission' from the criminal's cash, coordinated the more than 100 trips made by the group, including through a WhatsApp group called 'Keep Moving', according to prosecutors. They were sometimes helped by a corrupt Emirates check-in attendant, Emma Rauf, from Wilmslow, who worked at Manchester Airport. The group also sometimes used Birmingham Airport and then, after more than three quarters of a million pounds was seized in the UK, later Brussels Airport in Belgium.
Sentences handed down
Eight people - Rauf, 34, Benjamin Royle, 33, 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. Six of them - who, all other than Jobe, prosecutors said played 'significant' roles - were sentenced at Bolton Crown Court.
Logan, from Derby, lived in Dubai and acted as an 'administrator' and 'entertained' people as part of the plot, which the court was told 'couldn't have grown to the size it became' without her involvement. She made a total of 38 trips over an 18-month period, at one point travelling 'almost daily.' She carried around £3.9 million, making around £1,000 for herself each time, during which time she 'showed off about her glamorous existence.'
Jeffrey, who the court heard made ten trips to Dubai and laundered 'at least £5m' lived an 'opulent lifestyle' including taking £2,400 in cash to Turkey 'for cosmetic surgery.' She also went on numerous five-star holidays, including to Jamaica and the Gambia.
The alleged organiser would, according to investigators, instruct his subordinates to collect cash from organised crime groups across the north - including Manchester, Liverpool, Southport, Sheffield and Huddersfield before flying it out to the UAE.
Investigation and arrests
Lamara Noel, who had access to a car, took responsibility for many of the pick-ups and drop-offs, it was heard. In one example given by prosecutors, in May 2018 the alleged organiser is said to have messaged in the WhatsApp group after Graham and Logan arrived at Manchester Airport saying, 'who wants to be in Manny at 1pm.' "One of us will be there" Lamara Noel replied. "I can" Jeffrey her mother wrote. "Ok arrange between you both" the alleged organiser is said to have replied.
After Lamara Noel collected hundreds of thousands of pounds, Jeffrey wrote: "Does these need to pack (sic). What am I doing with them." "Put in 2 cases and take maybe better then help them pack and bring back the cases which not needed" the alleged organiser allegedly wrote. Jeffrey is said to have taken the cash to the Clayton Hotel, next to Manchester Airport, where it was picked up by Graham and Logan, who then took it through Manchester Airport in seven suitcases.
None of the cash smuggled by the group was declared on departure from the UK, as it should have been. Had it been, it would have been seized, the court was told. The group did declare some of the cash, however, on their arrival, once the alleged organiser realised the authorities in Dubai'did not investigate its source', meaning it could then be paid into the banking system and transferred wherever in the world its criminal owners wanted, prosecutors said.
In total, the group declared £14 million of criminal cash on their arrival in Dubai, but prosecutor Bill Baker KC said the 'sure conclusion' was that they smuggled further amounts that they did not declare. He said the group being sentenced was responsible for carrying 'just under £22 million' of laundered cash.
The 'wheels started to come off' the operation after Graham travelled to Dubai in May 2018, declaring more than half a million pounds on arrival. However, he had left a bag containing £70,000 at the check-in desk at Manchester Airport. Jeffrey tried to collect it the following day but was told it could only be handed to its owner, prompting Lamara Noel to say in a message that Graham had 'proper f****d it.' It was searched, seized, and sparked the investigation which eventually led to the group being brought to justice, the court heard.
After that other seizures, the alleged organiser arranged for cash to be smuggled to Brussels Airport, where it was then flown to Dubai.
Sentencing remarks
Royle, who, 'mixed in circles of affluence' and had an 'expectation of wealth', became involved towards the end of the conspiracy, which spanned an almost two year period from December 2017 to November 2019, but was trusted with storing cash at his Manchester city centre apartment, the court heard. His parents' home in Hale, Trafford, was shot at in October 2018 after cash he had left in the boot of a car on the drive was stolen. Investigators said the 'horrific' shooting - which saw bullets penetrate through to the property's living room - 'followed threats from the criminal who owned the money that anyone found responsible for stealing it would be killed.' No one was hurt.
Jobe was recruited by his 'good friend' Royle and 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.
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 entering into or becoming concerned in a money laundering arrangement in June, following a five-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. Sheldon Noel, who is currently unwell, and Rauf, in whose case there is to be a trial of issue, are to be sentenced at a later date.
Passing sentence on the other six on Friday afternoon, Judge Abigail Hudson said Logan's evidence at the trial was 'embarrassing', 'dishonest' and 'debasing' as she accused her of 'playing the vacuous female.' Whilst she said Graham's defence in the face of 'overwhelming' evidence was 'frankly ludicrous.' Judge Hudson said the operation had 'various limbs' and none of the six will likely have been aware of the 'total scale' of the plot. However, she said she was satisfied they knew the cash was from and were 'wholly disinterested', instead seeing it as a way of making 'easy money.'
Logan showed no emotion as she was jailed for seven and a half years. Jeffrey fought back tears after she was sentenced to six and a half years, with the judge saying her three dependent children had 'done nothing to deserve' the impact it would have on them. Former nurse Lamara Noel broke down in the dock upon mention of her siblings, as she was sentenced to five years. Graham was jailed for six years. Royle was sentenced to four years and three months. Jobe was handed a six-month sentence, suspended for two years, after the judge said she was satisfied his involvement was a 'one-off' and an 'aberration.' He was also ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and made subject to a three-month electronically monitored curfew, between 9pm and 7am.
Speaking afterwards, NCA branch commander Jon Hughes said: “This crime group smuggled enormous quantities of cash, to remove it from the attention of law enforcement. Illicit cash is the lifeblood of organised crime groups, fuelling violence and insecurity around the world. This is why disrupting its supply is a priority for the NCA and our partners, hitting crime groups in the pocket where it hurts the most.”
