Black Country pair sentenced as part of international organised crime gang
Two people from the Black Country are among sixteen people to receive jail sentences following the busting of a major money laundering and people smuggling operation.
Louise Smith and Joe Round were part of a West London-based organised crime group involved in international money laundering and people smuggling and whose members have been given jail sentences totalling more than 70 years.
The Dudley pair were first arrested as they prepared to board a flight at Heathrow on November 18, 2018, following the discovery of around £730,000 cash in a suitcase.
They were charged by police with conspiring to illegally courier hundreds of thousands of pounds out of the UK to Dubai for an organised crime group back in December 2019.
Joe Round, then-aged 30, of Blewitt Street, Pensnett and Louise Smith, then-aged 33, of School Street, Brierley Hill were charged with conspiring to launder money.
After appearing at Croydon Crown Court and both pleading guilty, Round was sentenced to 16 months, suspended for two years and Round to 12 months, suspended for two years.
A National Crime Agency investigation identified that members of the network were likely to have smuggled around £70 million in cash out of the UK, making hundreds of trips to Dubai, UAE, between 2017 and 2019.
NCA officers believe the money was profit from the sale of class A drugs and organised immigration crime.
Around £1.5 million was seized from couriers leaving the UK but flight analysis, evidence from cash declarations in Dubai, and other material seized by the NCA showed the group had succeeded in transporting far more.
