An Albanian money laundering gang operating out of a Westminster flat have been jailed and will be deported after £300,000 in cash was seized.
Following an investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA) - the UK's FBI - the four men were jailed for a total of seven and a half years on December 19 after pleading guilty at Reading Crown Court to money laundering and possessing counterfeit identity documents.
Perparim Hoxha, 30, Musa Gikola, 29 and Tahir Qadir, 39, were arrested on May 22, 2014 after NCA officers caught them in the act as they left a block of flats in Old Marylebone Road, Westminster .
Cash courier Hoxha left the block where Gikola lived and got into a car driven by another man, Alban Neza, 31, who drove around the corner to Edgware Road where Hoxha got out of the car with a bag.
Officers stopped him in the street and arrested him, seizing the bag which had nearly £80,000 in case and a counterfeit Italian identity card.
Shortly after, Gikola left his flat and handed another bag with £30,000 cash to Qadir who was waiting in a car outside. They were both arrested and another £39,000 was found stuffed under the driver’s car seat. Gikola also had counterfeit Greek ID cards and driving licences.
The NCA then tracked down Neza to his home in Green Lanes, Winchmore Hill and arrested him on June 2 after finding £151,000 in cash.
Gikola was jailed for three years and Hoxha for 18 months. Both Albanian nationals will face deportation after serving their sentence.
British national Neza was given a two-year suspended jail term and Qadir, also a British national, a year suspended sentence. The pair also have to do 250 hours community service.
Senior investigating officer George Rakowski, of the NCA, said: “All organised criminals need the services of money launderers to make the proceeds of their crime look legitimate, and these men were engaged in just that sort of enterprise.
“They were arrested following a painstaking surveillance operation, and the weight of evidence we gathered against them led directly to their guilty pleas.
“This investigation shows that the NCA is determined to frustrate organised criminals and their plans, we will seize their money, and bring them to justice.”
