Three men have become the first in Scotland to be convicted of a complex international money-laundering scam that makes unsuspecting victims the intermediaries for the proceeds of crime.
Muhammad Hameed, 32, a Dundee shopkeeper; Saleem Shikari, 52, his uncle; and Shahid Aslam, 36, who worked for him, from Kirkcaldy; laundered almost £700,000 in a process known as cuckoo smurfing.
The scam involves gangs replacing legitimate funds intended for overseas transfer in order to disguise money raised through criminal activities.
An intermediary — the “cuckoo” — identifies the details of bank accounts of unsuspecting individuals through which legitimate transfers are being paid, and then pays money into them. This is likened to the way a cuckoo will lay its eggs in the nests of other species of birds.
The account holder then receives an identical sum of “dirty” money, leaving them unaware that they are being implicated in a crime.
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The original sum of “clean” money is diverted to a holding account, often based in Dubai. The funds are then transferred back to the UK gang.
“Smurfing” refers to paying multiple amounts of cash into various accounts.
Steven Borthwick, the advocate depute prosecuting the case at the high court in Glasgow, explained: “The criminal proceeds raised by the UK-based crime gangs have thus been successfully laundered and the gang owes nothing but a commission to the ‘controller’ for his work. It is a sophisticated crime operated by a syndicate of highly organised crime gangs.”
The trio were apprehended when police raided Hameed’s flat in Dundee, where he and his accomplices were caught with a plastic bag stuffed with £75,000.
The court was told how Hameed, the ringleader, convinced his co-accused to take part in the scam. Police were tipped off in 2013 that the shopkeeper was involved in an international money-laundering operation.
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Detectives working with the National Crime Agency put Hameed under surveillance for several months as part of Operation Confab, aimed at cracking the ring. The trio were seen making significant cash deposits at various banks in Dundee almost daily.
Officers who raided Hameed’s flat on August 27, 2013, also discovered a cash- counting machine, as well as details of various bank accounts and pay-in slips.
The £75,000 seized was identified as belonging to an unnamed Scottish criminal gang.
All three men have been jailed after pleading guilty to a charge under the Proceeds of Crime Act. They were remanded in custody and will be sentenced next month.