OFFICERS stormed into a house in Pinner as part of a series of international raids against suspected money launderers.
Police swarmed around a block of flats near Millman Close, Pinner, and arrested a 55-year-old man from Pinner.
The early morning wake-up call was part of operation coordinated by the National Crime Agency involving more than 250 officers in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Bulgaria and Spain.
Cash totalling around £500,000 and diamonds worth approximately £100,000 were seized following searches of safety deposit boxes and other properties across London.
NCA operations manager Ed Thomson said: “Tacking criminal finances is key to cutting serious and organised crime.
“Drug traffickers need to launder their profits but doing it can be their Achilles’ heel.
“If we can get between them and their money they are unable to fund their lifestyles or invest in further drug deals. The disruption to their activity is huge.
“We believe our multi-agency operation has dismantled the money laundering arm of a well established organised crime group we are targeting as part of an ongoing investigation.”
Five men and three women were arrested in London and are now being interviewed and dozens of addresses were searched in the other countries and six people have been detained.
Those arrested in the United Kingdom were a 72-year-old-year-old man and a 60-year-old woman from Richmond Park, south-west London; a 55-year-old man and a 49-year-old woman from East Sheen, south-west London; a 58-year-old man from Maida Vale, north-west London; a 39-year-old woman from St John’s Wood, north-west London, and a 65-year-old man from Bushey, Hertfordshire.
The large quantities of financial records and digital material seized during the searches will now be analysed by NCA experts.
