London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Sep 01, 2025

£1bn a year laundered in cash transfers

£1bn a year laundered in cash transfers

Gangsters, drug dealers and sex traffickers are using money transfer businesses to launder at least £1 billion in cash every year, the National Crime Agency said after a Times investigation.
Sophisticated home-grown and foreign organised crime networks are known to use the UK outlets, which outnumber by four to one those in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain combined.

The Treasury warned last week in its national risk assessment that terrorists were depositing cash into the financial system that “moved through formal banking mechanisms or via money service businesses (MSBs)”.

Intelligence has suggested that about 15 per cent of more than 31,000 outlets are exposed to money laundering from groups involved in human trafficking, importing drugs and other crimes.

The sheer number of the businesses, including bureaux de changes and cheque cashing companies, makes the practice difficult to identify and, despite long-running concerns, figures suggest failures in self-regulation.

Of half a million suspicious activity reports the authorities received from the financial sector last year, only 17,701 were from money service businesses, thought to be mostly larger companies.

Gangs use criminal-controlled money transfer services or pass off the sums as legitimate. The money is moved abroad, often through many countries including “high-risk jurisdictions” such as Albania and Pakistan.

Ben Russell, deputy director of the National Economic Crime Centre, said that crime syndicates were “career criminals building their lives and their lifestyles running citywide, countrywide significant criminal networks”. He stressed that most money service businesses were compliant and legal.

Last month a businessman who laundered at least £5 million through his money transfer company in south London was sent back to prison for breaching a crime prevention order. Shafiq Ahmed, 53, arranged for drug money to be paid into UK bank accounts and immediately wired to Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Far East. Ahmed, who was first jailed in 2013, used falsified business records and forged documents to cover his tracks.
Comments

Oh ya 5 year ago
The government is using this excuse to get the world on a digital currency so they can control and tax you at their will. For example the government says get the vaccine and you say no and then find out you can not access your digital wallet, you earn a extra $20 bucks doing something and seeing there is no paper money get 20 put into your digital account and then see the tax the government takes out of your account. Digital money is like the mark of the beast

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Chinese and Indian Leaders Pursue Amity Amid Global Shifts
European Union Plans for Ukraine Deployment
ECB Warns Against Inflation Complacency
Concerns Over North Cyprus Casino Development
Shipping Companies Look Beyond Chinese Finance
Rural Exodus Fueling European Wildfires
China Hosts Major Security Meeting
Chinese Police Successfully Recover Family's Savings from Livestream Purchases
Germany Marks a Decade Since Migrant Wave with Divisions, Success Stories, and Political Shifts
Liverpool Defeat Arsenal 1–0 with Szoboszlai Free-Kick to Stay Top of Premier League
Prince Harry and King Charles to Meet in First Reunion After 20 Months
Chinese Stock Market Rally Fueled by Domestic Investors
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
Ukrainian Nationalist Politician Andriy Parubiy Assassinated in Lviv
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
Federal Reserve Independence Questioned Amid Trump’s Push to Reshape Central Bank
British Politics Faces Tumultuous Autumn After Summer of Rebellions and Rising Farage Momentum
US Appeals Court Rules Against Most Trump-Era Tariffs
UK Sought Broad Access to Apple Users’ Data, Court Filing Reveals
UK Bank Shares Dive Over Potential Tax on Sector
Germany’s Auto Industry Sheds 51,500 Jobs in First Half of 2025 Amid Deepening Crisis
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Argentine President Javier Milei Evacuated After Stones Thrown During Campaign Event
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Starmer Should Back Away from ECHR, Says Jack Straw
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
Chinese AI Chipmaker Cambricon Posts Record Profit as Beijing Pushes Pivot from Nvidia
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Welcome to The Definition of Insanity: Germany Edition
Just a reminder, this is Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris.
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
UK Government Delays Decision on China’s Proposed London Embassy Amid Concerns Over Redacted Plans
A 150-Year Tradition to Be Abolished? Uproar Over the Popular Central Park Attraction
×