Crime group jailed for smuggling £30m cash to UAE

Members of a crime group have been sentenced for smuggling nearly £30 million in cash out of the UK to the United Arab Emirates. The National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation found the group used suitcases on Emirates flights departing from Manchester, Birmingham, and Brussels airports between December 2017 and November 2019.

Couriers concealed criminal cash in up to five suitcases at a time. Emma Rauf, a former Emirates check-in attendant at Manchester Airport, assisted in the money laundering arrangement. The group worked with an organiser based in Dubai, who is awaiting extradition to the UK.

How the operation worked

The organiser instructed subordinates to collect cash from organised crime groups across northern England, including Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, and Huddersfield. This money was then flown to the UAE without being declared, as required by law. Couriers packed hundreds of thousands of pounds in cash concealed within clothes in suitcases. Their expenses, including accommodation in Dubai, meals, and visits to nightclubs, were paid for.

The operation began to unravel after £788,455 in cash was seized at UK airports across three separate dates, prompting the NCA's investigation.

Sentencing at Bolton Crown Court

A jury convicted Devanyl Graham, 27, from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire; Heather Jeffrey, 58, from Bradford; her son Sheldan Noel, 30; and daughter Lamara Noel, 34, on 4 June this year after a 12-week trial. Sophie Logan, 31, who had been living in Dubai, was also convicted.

On 2 October, Logan was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years imprisonment. Jeffrey received six-and-a-half years, Graham was sentenced to six years, and Lamara Noel received five years. Ben Royle, 32, from London, who pleaded guilty earlier, was sentenced to four years and three months.

Sheikh Jobe, 33, from Manchester, who had been recruited by Ben Royle, was sentenced to six months imprisonment, suspended for two years. He was ordered to complete 200 hours of community service and given a three-month curfew after cash was detected in his luggage. Emma Rauf's sentencing hearing is scheduled for 29 October, and Sheldan Noel's for 27 November.

NCA branch commander Jon Hughes stated that the crime group smuggled "enormous quantities of cash" to evade law enforcement. He added that illicit cash "is the lifeblood of organised crime groups, fuelling violence and insecurity around the world" and that disrupting its supply is a priority for the NCA and its partners.

What happens next

The alleged organiser of the smuggling operation is awaiting extradition to the UK to face trial. Sentencing hearings for Emma Rauf and Sheldan Noel are scheduled for 29 October and 27 November respectively.