LONDON : Four British men, including two of South Asian heritage who ran jewellery businesses, were on Tuesday convicted in one of the UK’s largest money laundering prosecutions worth an estimated GBP 266 million following a complex eight-year investigation.

Arjun Babber, 32, and Haroon Rashid, 53, were found guilty alongside Gregory Frankel and Daniel Rawson, both 46, at Leeds Cloth Hall Nightingale Crown Court in northern England over large amounts of unexplained cash passing through their businesses.

Babber ran Goldsteel Limited and is said to have started laundering cash for others through Fowler Oldfield Limited in 2015.

According to the UK Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), Babber’s family members ran RPS Jewellers Limited, a “well-known and reputable” gold and jewellery business based in west London and Hatton Garden.

Meanwhile, Rashid was the sole director of Rashid Jewellers Ltd and was a frequent visitor to the premises of Fowler Oldfield and had access to its computers.

“This case is one of the largest money laundering prosecutions ever brought to the courts in England and Wales,” said Hannah Von Dadelszen, from the CPS Serious Economic Organised and International Directorate.

“It involved a colossal quantity of cash, undoubtedly derived from criminal activity. These defendants were at the heart of the operation to launder and legitimise the dirty cash, bringing it into the banking system,” she said.

During a trial which lasted 19 weeks, the jury heard how the money would arrive at Fowler Oldfield by the sack load. CCTV footage showed how couriers from as far afield as Glasgow, Manchester and Merseyside would turn up at Hall Lane, Bradford, carrying heavy bags laden with bank notes – and all the proceeds of crime.

At one stage, an average of GBP 1.7 million a day was coming into the premises – all in cash and contained in sports bags, carrier bags, gift-wrapped toy boxes and even take-away food containers.

West Yorkshire Police’s Economic Crime Unit was alerted in 2016 when a cash-in-transit company raised concerns about the huge increase in cash being collected from Fowler Oldfield.

The company’s legitimate business on paper involved the purchase of scrap jewellery, including gold, in return for cash. However, the business model dramatically changed to receiving and processing cash on a large scale.

The eventual West Yorkshire Police probe found that from 2014 onwards, Fowler Oldfield saw a substantial increase in the amount of cash paid into its accounts. The amount of cash coming into the company increased from just over GBP 11,000 in 2012 to over GBP 650,000 a year later.

By 2015, payments into the long-established Bradford company grew substantially – with GBP 95 million coming in.

The cash was counted on the premises by staff using specialist counting machines such as those used in banks. The money was then bundled together for collection and then delivered to the NatWest bank to be deposited into Fowler Oldfield’s bank account.

The CPS case established that this cash represented criminal property and Fowler Oldfield was being used as the vehicle to launder the dirty cash.

“This was a sophisticated operation designed to launder a substantial amount of money connected to criminal activity in several regions across the UK. I have no doubt whatsoever that this cash is linked to organised crime activity, including drugs and wider criminality and I am pleased that we successfully demonstrated that to the court,” said Assistant Chief Constable Pat Twiggs of West Yorkshire Police, the force behind the investigation.

“At no point during our investigation did anyone come forward to claim any of the money that we seized. This complex and detailed investigation has taken over eight years to reach this point and I am pleased the diligence and tremendous determination our officers, together with partner agencies, have achieved this result,” he said.

The UK authorities said they will now be pursuing confiscation proceedings to ensure that none of the criminals involved “enjoy the fruits” of their criminal activity. (PTI)