Beirut-bound Heathrow passenger admits to $1.3m money laundering
A passenger found with £1 million ($1.3 million) in cash in his suitcases at Heathrow Airport has admitted to money laundering. Mazen Al Shaar, 48, was on his way to Beirut when he was stopped by Border Force officers at the UK's biggest airport on March 15, and the money was seized. Mr Al Shaar appeared at Isleworth Crown Court on Thursday and pleaded guilty to concealing, disguising, converting, transferring or removing criminal property under the Proceeds of Crime Act. Mr Al Shaar's barrister Andrew Bird told the court that his client is a person 'of good character' who was 'acting under direction' rather than being the owner of the cash. The amount he was caught with is about £1 million but the final figure will be revealed once the National Crime Agency finishes counting the cash, which is being held in a warehouse, he said. Prosecutor Atticus Blick told the court that he accepted the case put forward by Mr Al Shaar's legal team that he was acting as courier. As such, the offence is being treated as if he was acting under coercion and not for personal gain, he explained. Judge Karen Holt said Mr Al Shaar will be sentenced on April 29 and that the offence to which he has admitted carries a maximum prison sentence three years but his guilty plea entitles him to a reduction in jail time to about two years. After Mr Al Shaar was arrested, Andy Noyes, National Crime Agency branch commander, said: 'So many of the serious and organised crime threats facing the UK are driven by offenders' desire for money. 'This detection of £1 million was because of brilliant work by Border Force officers which has now sparked our investigation.' The Home Office said that the seizure 'highlights Border Force's dedicated efforts to protect our borders and keep the public safe'. 'Our officers are trained to spot suspicious behaviour and identify attempts to move illicit cash and other prohibited items across our borders,' said a representative. 'We continue to work closely with law enforcement partners, including the NCA to disrupt criminal networks.' Al Shaar's arrest came soon after customs officials at Beirut Airport arrested a man arriving from Turkey with a bag containing $1.4 million in cash. Meanwhile, a group of couriers who smuggled cash into Dubai as part of a £100 million money-laundering operation were jailed in the UK in 2023. Gang members were paid about £3,000 each to take business-class flights with money from drug deals vacuum-sealed and packed into suitcases, typically containing up to £500,000 and weighing 40kg each. The network collected cash – believed to be the profits of drug deals – from criminal groups in the UK and took it to counting houses, usually in rented apartments in central London. In less than a year, couriers communicating through a WhatsApp group called Sunshine and Lollipops flew on more than 80 flights carrying the money. Their network smuggled more than £104 million from the UK to Dubai during 83 separate trips between November 2019 and October 2020. They were overseen by Abdullah Alfalasi, 47, who was jailed for more than nine years in July last year after the operation was broken up in an operation led by the National Crime Agency.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The National
20-05-2025
- The National
Egyptian who ran $16m people-smuggling operation from London jailed for 25 years
An Egyptian fisherman who helped run a £12 million ($16 million) people-smuggling operation, and who once told an associate to kill and throw into the sea any migrants caught with phones, has been jailed for 25 years. Ahmed Ebid, 42, worked out of a house in London, provided for him and his family by the British authorities only three weeks after he arrived by small boat. Ebid, believed to be the first person convicted of organising illegal Mediterranean crossings from the UK, was working with networks in North Africa to organise boats, bringing over hundreds of migrants at a time on dangerous vessels. According to the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA), he was involved in at least seven separate crossings in 2022 and 2023 which carried a total of about 3,800 people into Italian waters. He was initially linked to the smuggling operation after he made calls to satellite phones used by henchmen on board the migrant boats. These were then used to call the Italian coastguard, to relay their position, be towed to safety and taken ashore. Ebid's number was traced to London and the Italians tipped off the NCA, which then bugged his home. In one conversation, he told an associate that migrants were not allowed to carry phones on his boats as he sought to avoid law enforcement. 'Tell them guys anyone caught with a phone will be killed, thrown in the sea,' he said. Ebid was arrested and charged in June 2023 and pleaded guilty to assisting illegal immigration but disputed aspects of the case against him. At a special court sitting known as a Newton Hearing, he claimed he had made only €15,000 ($16,840) from the operation and his involvement was limited to sharing navigational and seafaring advice, which he had learnt as a fisherman in the Mediterranean. He maintained his primary motivation was to move his family to the UK. But prosecutors said he was involved in the sourcing and provision of boats and crews for crossings from Libya to Europe. He was involved in the movement of migrants before the crossings, organised their housing and dealt with paperwork. Two notebooks were seized, one of which contained maritime co-ordinates for the area between Libya and Italy. Ebid's claim to have been a low-level player was rejected by judge Adam Hiddleston, who described him as having a 'significant managerial role within an organised crime group'. Passing sentence, Mr Hiddleston told Ebid that the "conspiracy you were a part of generated millions of pounds" and that he must have been a "beneficiary" of "a significant amount". This "truly staggering" amount of money came from the "hard-earned savings of desperate individuals", who were "ruthlessly and cynically exploited" by Ebid and his fellow criminals. "The treatment of the migrants on your orders and in your name was horrifying,' said the judge. "They were simply a commodity to you. "The important thing to you was that each paid up the exorbitant fare that was charged for their crossing and that nobody did anything to compromise your operation – such as by carrying a mobile phone.' Speaking after sentencing, Tim Burton, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said the Egyptian "played a leading role in a sophisticated operation" that "endangered lives, for his own and others' financial gain". 'Vulnerable people were transported on long sea journeys in ill-equipped fishing vessels completely unsuitable for carrying the large number of passengers who were on board," he added. "His repeated involvement in helping to facilitate these dangerous crossings showed a complete disregard for the safety of thousands of people, whose lives were put at serious risk." Jacque Beer, the NCA's regional head of investigation, explained that many of those Ebid had moved across the Mediterranean would have eventually ended up coming to the UK in small boats. "Ebid was part of a crime network who preyed upon the desperation of migrants to ship them across the Mediterranean in death-trap boats," she said. 'The cruel nature of his business was demonstrated by the callous way he spoke of throwing migrants into the sea if they didn't follow his rules. To him they were just a source of profit." The court was told the calculation for the amount of money Ebid had made came from interviews with the migrants carried out by Italian authorities, who passed on that information to the NCA as part of its investigation into Ebid. The average paid by the 3,781 migrants whose passage he organised was £3,272, meaning he made £12,375,212. During a search of his home, two Italian mobile phones were seized along with other devices, on which were found images of boats, conversations about the possible purchase of vessels, videos of migrants making the journey and screenshots detailing money transfers. There were also photographs showing a large amount of cash on a bed. In October 2022, more than 640 migrants were rescued by the Italian authorities after they attempted to cross in a wooden boat from Libya. It was taken into port in Sicily and two bodies were recovered. In another crossing, 265 migrants were rescued by the Italian coastguard from a 20-metre fishing boat found adrift in the Mediterranean after leaving Benghazi, Libya, in early December 2022. In April 2023, two separate search-and-rescue operations were mounted following distress calls to the coastguard. More than 600 migrants were on board each boat. Ebid has a previous conviction for attempting to smuggle a tonne of cannabis into Italy, for which he was sentenced to six years in jail. Police recently arrested suspected people smugglers they say made €30 million ($33.7 million) from taking migrants across the Mediterranean. According to Europol, Egyptians have increasingly been involved in smuggling on routes into and throughout the European Union, including the Mediterranean and western Balkan routes.
The National
20-05-2025
- The National
Egyptian who ran $15.5m people-smuggling operation from London home jailed for 25 years
An Egyptian fisherman who helped run a £12 million ($16 million) people-smuggling operation, and who once told an associate to kill and throw into the sea any migrants caught with phones, has been jailed for 25 years. Ahmed Ebid, 42, worked out of a house in London, provided for him and his family by the British authorities only three weeks after he arrived by small boat. Ebid, believed to be the first person convicted of organising illegal Mediterranean crossings from the UK, was working with networks in North Africa to organise boats, bringing over hundreds of migrants at a time on dangerous vessels. According to the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA), he was involved in at least seven separate crossings in 2022 and 2023 which carried a total of about 3,800 people into Italian waters. He was initially linked to the smuggling operation after he made calls to satellite phones used by henchmen on board the migrant boats. These were then used to call the Italian coastguard, relay their position, be towed to safety and taken ashore. Ebid's number was traced to London and the Italians tipped off the NCA, which then bugged his home. In one conversation, he told an associate that migrants were not allowed to carry phones with them on his boats as he sought to avoid law enforcement. 'Tell them guys anyone caught with a phone will be killed, thrown in the sea,' he said. Ebid was arrested and charged in June 2023 and pleaded guilty to assisting illegal immigration but disputed aspects of the case against him. At a special court sitting known as Newton Hearing, he claimed he had made only €15,000 ($16,840) from the operation and that his involvement was limited to sharing navigational and seafaring advice, which he had learnt from his time as a fisherman in the Mediterranean. He maintained his primary motivation was to move his family to the UK. But prosecutors said he was involved in the sourcing and provision of boats and crews for crossings from Libya to Europe. He was involved in the movement of migrants before the crossings, organised their housing and dealt with paperwork. Two notebooks were seized, one of which contained maritime co-ordinates for the area between Libya and Italy. Ebid's claim to be a low-level player was rejected by judge Adam Hiddleston, who described Ebid as having a 'significant managerial role within an organised crime group'. Speaking after sentencing, Tim Burton, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said the Egyptian "played a leading role in a sophisticated operation" that "endangered lives, for his own and others' financial gain". 'Vulnerable people were transported on long sea journeys in ill-equipped fishing vessels completely unsuitable for carrying the large number of passengers who were on board," he added. "His repeated involvement in helping to facilitate these dangerous crossings showed a complete disregard for the safety of thousands of people, whose lives were put at serious risk." Jacque Beer, the NCA's regional head of investigation, explained that many of those Ebid had moved across the Mediterranean would have eventually ended up coming to the UK in small boats. "Ebid was part of a crime network who preyed upon the desperation of migrants to ship them across the Mediterranean in death-trap boats," she said. 'The cruel nature of his business was demonstrated by the callous way he spoke of throwing migrants into the sea if they didn't follow his rules. To him they were just a source of profit." The court was told the calculation for the amount of money Ebid had made came from interviews with the migrants carried out by Italian authorities, who passed on that information to the NCA as part of its investigation into Ebid. The average paid by the 3,781 migrants whose passage he organised was £3,272, meaning he made £12,375,212. During a search of his home, two Italian mobile phones were seized along with other devices, on which were found images of boats, conversations about the possible purchase of vessels, videos of migrants making the journey and screenshots detailing money transfers. There were also photographs showing a large amount of cash on a bed. On one crossing in October 2022, more than 640 migrants rescued by the Italian authorities after they attempted to cross in a wooden boat from Libya. It was taken into port in Sicily and two bodies were recovered. In another, 265 migrants were rescued by the Italian coastguard from a 20-metre fishing boat found adrift in the Mediterranean after leaving Benghazi, Libya in early December 2022. In April 2023, two separate search-and-rescue operations were mounted following distress calls to the coastguard – more than 600 migrants were on board each boat. Ebid has a previous conviction for attempting to smuggle a tonne of cannabis into Italy, for which he was sentenced to six years in jail. Police recently arrested suspected people smugglers they say made €30 million ($33.7 million) from taking migrants across the Mediterranean. According to Europol, Egyptians have increasingly been involved in smuggling on routes into and throughout the European Union, including the Mediterranean and western Balkan routes.
The National
20-05-2025
- The National
Egyptian who ran $15.5m people smuggling operation from London home jailed for 25 years
An Egyptian fisherman who helped run a £12 million ($15.5 million) people smuggling operation, and one told an assciate to kill and throw into the sea any migrants caught with phones, has been jailed for 25 years. Ahmed Ebid, 42, worked out of a house in London provided for him and his family by the British authorities, just three weeks after he arrived by small boat. Ebid, who is believed to be the first person convicted of organising boat crossings across the Mediterranean from the UK, was working with networks in north Africa to organise boats, bringing over hundreds of migrants at a time on extremely dangerous vessels. According to the UK's National Crime Agency, he was involved in at least seven separate crossings in 2022 and 2023 which carried almost 3,800 people into Italian waters. He was initially linked to the smuggling operation after he made phone calls to satellite phones used by henchmen on board migrant boats. These were then used to call the Italian coastguard to relay their position so they could be towed to safety and those on board taken ashore. His number was traced to London and the Italians tipped off the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA), who then began bugging his home. In one conversation he told an associate that migrants were not allowed to carry phones with them on his boats as he sought to avoid law enforcement. 'Tell them guys anyone caught with a phone will be killed, threw in the sea,' he said. Ebid was arrested and charged in June 2023 and pleaded guilty to assisting unlawful immigration but disputed aspects of the prosecution's case against him. At a special court sitting known as Newton Hearing, he claimed that he made only €15,000 ($16,400) from the operation and that his involvement was limited to sharing navigational and seafaring advice, which he had learned from his time as a fisherman in the Mediterranean. He maintained his primary motivation was to get his family to the UK. But prosecutors said he was involved in the sourcing and provision of boats and crews for crossings from Libya to Europe. He was involved in the movement of migrants before the crossings, organised their housing and dealt with any paperwork. Two notebooks were also seized, one of which contained maritime co-ordinates for the area between Libya and Italy. Ebid's claim to be a low level player was rejected by judge Adam Hiddlestson, who described Ebid as having a 'significant managerial role within an organised crime group'. Speaking after Ebid was sentenced, Tim Burton, a Specialist Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said the Egyptian "played a leading role in a sophisticated operation" which "endangered lives, for his own and others' financial gain". 'Vulnerable people were transported on long sea journeys in ill-equipped fishing vessels completely unsuitable for carrying the large number of passengers who were on board," he said. "His repeated involvement in helping to facilitate these dangerous crossings showed a complete disregard for the safety of thousands of people, whose lives were put at serious risk." The NCA's Regional Head of Investigation, Jacque Beer, explained that many of those Ebid moved across the Mediterranean would have eventually ended up coming to the UK in small boats. "Ebid was part of a crime network who preyed upon the desperation of migrants to ship them across the Mediterranean in death trap boats," she said. 'The cruel nature of his business was demonstrated by the callous way he spoke of throwing migrants into the sea if they didn't follow his rules. To him they were just a source of profit." The court was told the calculation for the amount of money he made came from interviews with the migrants carried out by the Italian authorities. They passed that information to the NCA as part of its investigation into Ebid. The average paid by the 3,781 migrants whose passage he organised was £3,272, meaning he made £12,375,212. During a search of his home, two Italian mobile phones were seized along with other devices, on which were found images of boats, conversations about the possible purchase of vessels, videos of migrants making the journey, and screenshots detailing money transfers. There were also photographs, showing a large amount of cash on a bed. One crossing in October 2022 saw more than 640 migrants rescued by the Italian authorities after they attempted to cross in a wooden boat from Libya. It was taken into port in Sicily and two bodies were recovered. In another, 265 migrants were rescued by the Italian coastguard from a 20-metre fishing boat found adrift in the Mediterranean after leaving Benghazi in early December 2022. Then in April 2023 two further search and rescue operations were mounted following distress calls to the coastguard – in each case more than 600 migrants were on board each boat. Ebid has a previous conviction for attempting to smuggle a tonne of cannabis into Italy, for which he was given a six-year jail sentence. Police recently arrested suspected people smugglers they say made €30 million ($33.1 million) from taking migrants across the Mediterranean. According to Europol, Egyptians have increasingly been involved in smuggling on routes into and throughout the EU, including the Mediterranean and the western Balkan routes.
