Cash couriers who smuggled millions in suitcases are sentenced
29 Apr 2024 12:01 PM
Six more members of a money laundering network which smuggled more than £100 million out of the UK to the UAE have been sentenced following an investigation by the National Crime Agency.
The network transported the cash to Dubai during 83 separate trips between November 2019 and October 2020, overseen by ringleader Abdullah Alfalasi, 48, who was jailed for more than nine years in July 2022.
The couriers, who were paid between £3,000-5,000 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’.
Paige Henry, 26, from Birmingham, Samantha Horst, 51, from Staines-upon-Thames, Craig Bramall, 42, from Wigan, Bridget Taylor, 44, from Edinburgh, Ali Al-Nawab, 40, and Mehdi Amrollahbibiyouki, 41, both from London, were all sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court.
Click here for the full press release