Emirates check-in worker among eight convicted in £30m Manchester Airport cash smuggling ring
An Emirates check-in assistant at Manchester Airport helped smuggle nearly £30m in criminal cash to Dubai. Eight people were convicted following a National Crime Agency investigation.
Emirates staff member exploited airport role to move criminal millions to Dubai
An Emirates check-in assistant at Manchester Airport was a key member of a criminal gang that smuggled nearly £30 million in cash out of the United Kingdom, bbc.co.uk reports.
Emma Rauf, 34, from Wilmslow, Cheshire, used her position at the airport to help couriers pass suitcases loaded with criminal proceeds onto flights bound for Dubai. A National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation established that Rauf allowed excess baggage containing cash to clear check-in without proper screening. When she was not on shift, she contacted colleagues and instructed them to handle the excess baggage in the same way.
The offences took place between December 2017 and November 2019, with cash transported on flights departing from Manchester, Birmingham and Brussels airports. Couriers carried hundreds of thousands of pounds at a time, the NCA said, with the money concealed inside clothing packed in suitcases.
The gang collected criminal cash from across northern England, including Greater Manchester, before moving it to the United Arab Emirates. Rauf herself flew to and from the UAE seven times over seven months, during which she reported to her employer that she was sick.
The investigation was triggered after Border Force officers made two separate seizures totalling almost £800,000. One courier, Sheikh Jobe, 33, from Manchester, was arrested at Manchester Airport in October 2018 after more than £300,000 was found in his luggage.
More than £400,000 in cash was also stolen from a car used by Rauf and her brother, Ben Royle, 32, which had been parked outside their family home in Hale, Greater Manchester. The property was subsequently targeted in a shooting, though no one was injured.
Rauf and Royle, along with Jobe, pleaded guilty to their roles in the smuggling operation ahead of trial. Five further defendants were convicted by a jury on 4 June at Bolton Crown Court. Among them, Devanyl Graham, 26, from Dewsbury, flew to Dubai 18 times. Heather Jeffrey, 58, her son Sheldan Noel, 30, and daughter Lamara Noel, 34, all from Bradford, collected cash from organised crime groups and transported it to Dubai, the NCA said.
All eight defendants are due to be sentenced at Bolton Crown Court later this year.
NCA branch commander Jon Hughes said the group had operated "on an industrial scale" and had exploited airport systems to move large volumes of criminal cash.
Source: Google News UAE — Dubai