Members of a crime group which smuggled almost £30 million of cash out of the UK to the United Arab Emirates hidden in suitcases have been sentenced.

A National Crime Agency investigation showed that the group worked with a British Dubai-based organiser to smuggle the money via Dubai-bound Emirates flights leaving from Manchester, Birmingham and Brussels airports between December 2017 and November 2019.

Couriers smuggled the criminal cash in up to five suitcases at a time, sometimes helped by corrupt Emirates check-in attendant Emma Rauf, who worked at Manchester Airport.

The alleged organiser, who is awaiting extradition to the UK to face trial and cannot be named for legal reasons, instructed his subordinates to collect cash from organised crime groups in the UK and fly it out to the UAE without declaring it on departure as the law requires.

Rauf (nee Royle), 34, from Wilmslow, Cheshire, and her 32-year-old brother Ben Royle, from London, were also involved in the money laundering arrangement.

She changed her plea to guilty on 23 March this year after initially denying the offence of entering into or becoming concerned in a money laundering arrangement to remove cash from the UK to Dubai.

The money laundering arrangement worked by network members collecting cash from criminal groups around northern England including Manchester, Liverpool, Southport, Sheffield and Huddersfield.

The couriers would pack hundreds of thousands of pounds of cash at a time concealed in clothes in suitcases. They were put up in expensive Dubai hotels and had meals and visits to expensive nightclubs and beach clubs paid for.

The plan began to fall apart after £788,455 in cash was seized at UK airports over three separate dates, prompting the NCA’s investigation.

Those convicted were:

• Sophie Logan, 31, who had been living in Dubai but formerly of Derby, said she worked as a personal assistant to the alleged organiser. She flew to and from Dubai 38 times over a two-year period, declared cash totalling £3.9 million on arrival in Dubai on 14 occasions.

• Devanyl Graham, 27, from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, flew to Dubai 18 times declaring a total of £4 million in cash on arrival.
• Heather Jeffrey, 58, her son Sheldan Noel, 30, and daughter Lamara Noel, 34, all from Bradford, collected cash from organised crime groups and flew it to Dubai. They smuggled out £5 million over 10 trips, £5.4 million over 10 trips and £2.5 million over 10 trips respectively. The alleged organiser used a WhatsApp group to instruct the trio, with messages showing that Jeffrey was told to pick up cash from Huddersfield and Sheffield in May 2018.
• Ben Royle recruited friend, Sheikh Jobe, 33, from Manchester, to fly £306,040 in cash from Manchester Airport in October 2018. However, the cash was detected in Jobe’s luggage after he had checked it in, resulting in his arrest and the money being seized.

A jury at Bolton Crown Court convicted Devanyl Graham, Sheldan Noel, Lamara Noel, Jeffrey and Sophie Logan on 4 June this year following a 12-week trial. Rauf changed her plea to guilty on 23 March, with Royle and Jobe pleading guilty at hearings before the trial started.

At the same court today (2 October) Logan was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years imprisonment, Jeffrey to six-and-a-half years, Graham to six years, Lamara Noel to five years and Royle to four years and three months. Jobe was sentenced to six months imprisonment suspended for two years and ordered to carry out 200 hours community service. He was also given a three-month curfew.

Rauf’s sentencing hearing is due to start on 29 October and Sheldan Noel’s on 27 November.

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.”

International money laundering networks use cash smuggling, cryptocurrencies, and banking systems to move billions of pounds of dirty money each year.

This cash can be derived from the drugs trade, fraud, other illegal commodities, and even associated with terrorism and conflicts around the world.

The NCA’s National Economic Crime Centre works with partners to make it harder for organised criminals in the UK to launder the proceeds of crime. It brings together experts from across UK law enforcement, regulatory agencies and the Government, targeting the money launderers who are relied on by crime groups. They aim to seize cash, arrest, and disrupt launderers, as well as working with government to make money laundering harder in the first place by closing gaps in the system and combating the methods used.