The UK National Crime Agency NCA led the investigation (representative)
London:
Sixteen people, including a “leader” of Indian origin who is part of a west London-based organized crime group involved in international money laundering and people smuggling, were given prison sentences totaling more than 70 years on Friday.
Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA), which led the investigation that led to the conviction of the Charan Singh-led gang in May, believes they are likely to have smuggled around £70 million in cash out of Britain, taking hundreds have made trips to the United Kingdom. Dubai, UAE, between 2017 and 2019.
NCA officers believe the money was profits from the sale of illegal Class A drugs and organized immigration crime.
“Charan Singh and his network thought they were untouchable because they diverted tens of millions of pounds of criminal money from Britain,” said Chris Hill, senior investigating officer at the NCA.
“The NCA conducted a long and complex investigation into their activities, and over a two-year period we were able to prove their involvement in money laundering and organized immigration crime. Today’s sentences mark the culmination of that investigation and years of work by our officers. “We remain committed to protecting the public and tackling criminal networks run by people like Charan Singh, and we will use the full range of tactics at our disposal to disrupt and dismantle them,” he said.
After a three-day hearing at Croydon Crown Court, which concluded on Friday, Charan Singh was jailed for 12 and a half years. His ‘right-hand man’ Valjeet Singh got 11 years, while ‘trusted lieutenant’ Swander Singh Dhal got 10 years for money laundering and a further five years for people smuggling.
The other members of the crime group, including Amarjeet Alabadis, Jaginder Kapoor, Jackdar Kapoor, Manmon Singh Kapur, Pinky Kapur and Jasbeer Singh Malhotra, were given sentences ranging from nine years to 11 months.
Those arrested and charged as part of the NCA operation were prosecuted in two trials at Croydon Crown Court in south London from January this year.
As part of the investigation, NCA officers also uncovered a plot involving members of the criminal gang to smuggle 17 migrants, including five children and a pregnant woman, into the UK in the back of a tyred van in 2019.
The van was intercepted by Dutch police, who worked with the NCA, before it could reach a ferry in Hoek van Holland.
In November 2019, after weeks of surveillance, communication and analysis of flight data, NCA officers moved in to make arrests. “Gang leader Charan Singh, 44, from Hounslow, was among those arrested in a series of early morning attacks in west London,” the NCA said after sentencing the gang.
Investigators were able to prove that Singh, who previously lived in the UAE, paid for flights to Dubai for other members of the network so they could carry cash. He also kept a ledger showing how much had been transported and when. It showed that Singh and his couriers made at least 58 trips to Dubai in 2017 alone.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
