Following this announcement, through the use of data analysis and intelligence, officers discovered over GBP 55 million had been laundered by the group between February 2020 and June 2023.
Four people were sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Monday 19 August for multiple money laundering (ML) offences, while three others were previously sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Friday, 14 June. The individuals were sentenced to a total of 24 years and 11 months between them.
According to officials, the increasing concerns around undergoing banking led the police to begin investigating the group. The sheer scale of this laundering was set to generate crimes such as illegal drug supply, human trafficking, prostitution, and more.
The first warrant found more than GBP 104.000 in a carrier bag hidden in a wardrobe, while the second one found multiple cash counting machines and money bags. At the moment, officials seized a total of almost GBP 500.000 in assets from the group as well, while the individuals were using a Chinese messaging app to sell GBP to university students and circumnavigate foreign currency controls.
The messages also identified that the people were working for a person with the user handle `There is a Big Sun in the Sky`, which arranged for the pair to collect large amounts of cash. They also took a photo of a GBP 5 banknote, including the unique serial number, which was passed onto the courier allowing the interaction to take place without either party knowing the identity of the other. In addition, this person arranged for the pair to collect large amounts of cash, sometimes as large as a quarter of a million GBP at a time.
The next warrants identified the rest of the individuals, as well as other GBP 14.600. The head of the group, responsible for the handle ‘There is a Big Sun in the Sky`, has also been identified, with other counting machines, numerous mobile phones, computers, bank cards in others' names, and a cash counting machine being stored in his house as well.
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