The ringleader of a money laundering group that smuggled tens of millions of pounds of criminal cash out of the UK has been hit with a confiscation order.

Abdullah Alfalasi was given the order totalling £3,496,778.68 following a National Crime Agency investigation into his finances.

The 48-year-old Emirati national was previously convicted of co-ordinating a network of couriers who removed £104 million from the UK to the United Arab Emirates between November 2019 and October 2020.

Sixteen couriers have now been convicted. Each carried suitcases carrying hundreds of thousands or even millions of pounds in vacuum packed bundles, travelling business class to increase their luggage allowance. The cash smuggled was believed to be profits from drug dealing.

Alfalasi made multiple cash trips himself between Dubai and the UK, from November 2019 to March 2020.

Read more: nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk

Photo: unsplash.com