Cash-smuggling gang jailed over £30m Manchester Airport operation
A criminal gang has been sentenced for smuggling nearly £30 million in cash from the UK to Dubai between 2017 and 2019. The group used commercial flights to transport proceeds from serious criminal activities, including drug dealing.
Why it matters
The case exposes significant vulnerabilities in airport security and the methods used by organized crime to launder illicit funds internationally.
Image source, National Crime Agency Image caption, The gang smuggled cash through in excess baggage, the NCA said
Members of a criminal gang who smuggled almost £30m in cash from the UK to Dubai through airports including Manchester and Birmingham have been jailed.
Passing sentence at Bolton Crown Court, Judge Abigail Hudson described the offenders as a "shallow group of individuals" who "revelled in spending obscene amounts of money".
The judge said those involved were "fully aware and wholly disinterested" that the cash they were transporting came from serious criminal activity, often drug dealing.
The group used Emirates flights departing from Manchester, Birmingham and Brussels airports to transport criminal cash to the United Arab Emirates between 2017 and 2019.
Sophie Logan, 31, formerly from Derby and living in Dubai at the time of the conspiracy, was jailed for seven years and six months.
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