Detective Inspector Stephen Weller and his team from the City of London Police's Serious Organised Crime Team uncovered a £190million money laundering operation run by Ali Raza, a suspected money launderer. The operation involved a cash transfer shop on a high street in east London and was used by various criminal groups, including British, Albanians, and Russians, dealing mainly in drugs.
When Detective Inspector Stephen Weller and his team closed in on suspected money launderer Ali Raza, they didn't know exactly what to expect – would he be a big fish or a small minnow in the world of organised crime?
It didn't take them long to find out. Within days of putting Raza in handcuffs, they had closed down an operation thought to have laundered £190million for some of Britain's most dangerous drugs gangs, and seized £2.5million in cash and gold.
It was the biggest haul in the City of London Police's history, yet it centred on a modest cash transfer shop – Rana Money Exchange Ltd – doing business in plain sight on a bustling high street in east London.
'It was a favourite place for gangs to launder their money – British, Albanians, Russians, all sorts of criminals dealing mainly in drugs,' says DI Weller, from City Police's Serious Organised Crime Team. 'It was very professional and highly discreet. When we went in, we didn't know what we'd find, but it immediately became clear this was something big. There was so much cash and gold that could only have come from organised crime.
'We had evidence that on one occasion a Russian organised crime group came with a suitcase containing £1million in cash. And when we arrested Raza, he was wearing a makeshift money belt stuffed with £150,000 in £50 notes. I'd seen huge volumes of cash before, but never experienced a clandestine money belt with that much cash in it. It was incredible.
' Yesterday, Raza and his sidekick, Adeel Aslam, both from Ilford, east London, were sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court. Raza, the head of the operation, pleaded guilty and was given four years and eight months. Aslam, who went to trial and was found guilty by a jury, was sentenced to two years and two months in prison.
Operation Flood, as City Police called the investigation, had its roots in another spectacular police exercise, Operation Venetic, run by the National Crime Agency (NCA). For three months, the Operation Venetic team had access to an encrypted communications network called EncroChat. This was a messaging service used by top criminals worldwide because it was supposed to be completely secure. Bank notes recovered from the raid on the property in east Londo
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