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Speaker 1: Flower companies, food companies, real estate.

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Speaker 2: Wow, a marble and ceramic trading company.

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Speaker 1: Oh gosh, the list goes on and on and on, doesn't.

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Speaker 1: I mean, there's well over a dozen, nearly a couple

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Speaker 1: of dozen companies here, is there.

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Speaker 2: I mean, this is one thing that I don't even

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Speaker 2: think the NCAA are aware of the extent of, you know,

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Speaker 2: how many companies and how diverse.

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Speaker 1: It was, it really is.

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Speaker 3: So I'm a little bit nervous. I've never done this before.

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Speaker 1: David Collins is speaking to a gold trader they met

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Speaker 1: a few days.

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Speaker 2: Before, one of them. Can you just remind me so

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Speaker 2: how much goals am I able to buy? I think

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Speaker 2: you said I could spend one hundred thousand dirhm?

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Speaker 3: Is that right?

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Speaker 1: The reason David says he's nervous is that he's undercover.

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Speaker 1: He's continuing his investigation into how criminals like the Sunshine

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Speaker 1: and Lollipops gang were able to carry millions of pounds

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Speaker 1: worth of dirty money from the UK to Dubai and

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Speaker 1: where the money went next.

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Speaker 3: If you're taking to UK, then.

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Speaker 1: David's had a tip that the money can end up

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Speaker 1: being turned into gold.

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Speaker 3: But in your hometown and your kid I don't know

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Speaker 3: what's the rule there.

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Speaker 1: The trader asked David if he's planning on taking the

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Speaker 1: gold home to the UK.

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Speaker 2: One or pol brothers customers.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, they say that if you take gold Bartle it's

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Speaker 4: a problem in the airport.

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Speaker 1: He explains that simply taking a solid bar of gold

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Speaker 1: might cause problems with UK customs, so they usually the.

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Speaker 3: Chain, so there's no problem one. So the way you

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Speaker 3: get around it is you put it as a chain

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Speaker 3: round your neck.

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Speaker 2: How much?

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Speaker 1: The trader explains, It's easy to change the gold into

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Speaker 1: jewelry that way, No one in customs is going to

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Speaker 1: look at it, meaning you can carry that gold home unchecked,

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Speaker 1: then sell the gold and spend the money.

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Speaker 2: Did it so? I want to wait? So it's a

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Speaker 2: bit lower.

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Speaker 1: They discussed gold prices, when to invest, until David thinks

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Speaker 1: it's time to ask the question because just.

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Speaker 2: Between you and me, just between you and me, literally,

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Speaker 2: some of the money might be for drugs in the UK.

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Speaker 1: David says, the money might be from drugs in the UK.

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Speaker 1: The gold trader pauses for a second, then says there

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Speaker 1: is no issue on that one. I'm Fiona Hamilton and

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Speaker 1: from the Times. The Sunday Times and News Corp Australia.

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Speaker 1: This is Cocainey Episode seven, the Dubai Gold Rush.

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Speaker 3: So final destination is to dub It is yes, very.

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Speaker 1: Thanks Leman, Welcome to Dubai and Tasha Airport local time.

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Speaker 2: Arrived in Dubai late one Monday night. Just like Francesca,

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Speaker 2: the Cashmere I spoke to in the last episode, I

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Speaker 2: picked up my bags and stroll past customs. Unlike Francesca,

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Speaker 2: I didn't have millions of pounds stuffed into my suitcase

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Speaker 2: to declare I'll take this one. Once outside, I get

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Speaker 2: a taxi to my hotel. Very futuristic car, a brand

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Speaker 2: new Tesla. We drive down the Shiksaied Road, the main

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Speaker 2: motorway that runs the length of the city. Skyscraper after

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Speaker 2: skyscraper filled with offices, condos and hotels whiz by. The

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Speaker 2: city is the beating heart of the United Arab Emirates,

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Speaker 2: one of the more business friendly economies in the Middle East.

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Speaker 2: You're on, Oh, that's the Burge. I'm app yes, Wow,

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Speaker 2: it looks like a windsail, doesn't it. Seeing the Burge

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Speaker 2: Arab Hotel piqued my interest. It's a seven star hotel. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: if that's even a thing. My taxi driver says, it's

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Speaker 2: about ten pounds a night to stay. How much will

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Speaker 2: it costs to have a wedding? Uh?

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Speaker 5: Where you going?

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Speaker 4: A lot?

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Speaker 2: And it's here where Daniel Kinahan, an Irish boxing promoter

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Speaker 2: accused of running a global drug cartel dubbed the Cocaine Cowboys,

76
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Speaker 2: got married in twenty seventeen. The wedding was said to

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Speaker 2: be a who's who of those in the global drug trade.

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Speaker 2: The US Drug Enforcement Administration reportedly calculated that those on

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Speaker 2: the guest list had shipped twenty three billion pounds worth

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Speaker 2: of cocaine into Europe between them. Do you take the

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Speaker 2: customers there? You have so many dimes? Have you? What

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Speaker 2: jobs did he do?

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Speaker 6: Though?

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Speaker 2: Did he never tell you? Do you like business people?

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Speaker 2: They never see ow they have got so much, They

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Speaker 2: never tell the secret of how they earned money macabby jokes.

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Speaker 2: This year, it was revealed that Daniel Kinahan's wife owns

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Speaker 2: a multimillion dollar villa in Dubai with gleaming white walls,

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Speaker 2: elegant arched doorways and bright red roof tiles. I remember

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Speaker 2: Pete Costa, the Dutch pineapple trader linked to the torture

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Speaker 2: chambers Fiona went to check out. Earlier in this series,

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Speaker 2: he said to have had a Dubai real estate portfolio

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Speaker 2: worth millions. It feels as if this modern city of

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Speaker 2: luxurious skyscrapers and anti shopping malls has become the place

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Speaker 2: of choice for cartel bosses to kick back and malax

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Speaker 2: away from their home countries in a different jurisdiction, Which

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Speaker 2: is what's led me to the next stage in our

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Speaker 2: investigation into the global cocaine business, looking at what happens

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Speaker 2: to the profits. Once you've got your criminal cash to Dubai,

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Speaker 2: how do you then launder that money on a large scale. Well,

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Speaker 2: you want to get it into the legitimate economy and

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Speaker 2: that makes it harder for law enforcement to trace it.

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Speaker 2: And I've been tipped that a good way to do

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Speaker 2: this is to invest it in gold. Brilliant, Thanks for

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Speaker 2: so this is the center.

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Speaker 7: Of the main center, is this big shot.

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Speaker 2: The next day, I leave the main tourist spot of

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Speaker 2: Dubai and go to an area known as the gold

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Speaker 2: souk Asuki is Arabic for market, and this one is

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Speaker 2: full of gold traders at their stalls, So you can

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Speaker 2: buy gold here Gije's. You can weigh it in the gigs?

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Speaker 2: What like the bars of it? Wow? Do people do that?

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Speaker 2: My taxi driver drops me off, Thank you so much.

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Speaker 2: By the streets are full of small stalls, perfume shops,

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Speaker 2: coffee stands as well as this, there's plenty of gold shops.

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Speaker 2: Dubai was established in the nineteenth century as a small

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Speaker 2: fishing village, but since then it's booms. Oil money, tourism

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Speaker 2: and construction have seen the money flooding in. But gold

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Speaker 2: is also a big part of Dubai's economy. This souk

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Speaker 2: I've just arrived at has existed since the nineteen forties,

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Speaker 2: when traders and merchants from Iran and India first set

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Speaker 2: up their shops. By in nineteen sixties, this area had

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Speaker 2: become an important hob in a global gold trade. And

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Speaker 2: today people say there's over ten tons of gold in

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Speaker 2: this souk at any one time. But there's a dark

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Speaker 2: side to this story. I've been told that cash is

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Speaker 2: invested into gold by criminals. So how simple would it

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Speaker 2: be for a British criminal to come here and do this.

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Speaker 3: Of the sea.

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Speaker 2: That's just what I wanted. I enter part the souk

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Speaker 2: and now I'm officially undercover. I'm in an area which

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Speaker 2: feels a bit like a department store, lined with display counters,

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Speaker 2: and then gold trader shops off to the side. I

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Speaker 2: feel on edge. There's plenty of security guards everywhere. A

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Speaker 2: look a glass shop, windows dripping with gold jewelry hanging

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Speaker 2: from pack displays. They are perfect and exactly what wanted.

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Speaker 2: I'd buy a cheap pair of knockoff sunglasses and a

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Speaker 2: nice belt, and I ask for a recommendation of a

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Speaker 2: decent gold trader wherever they're going to buy investing. I'm

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Speaker 2: directed to his shop. There's a group of men sitting

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Speaker 2: about making deals underneath a TV screen showing the day's

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Speaker 2: gold market prices, today's market. That's today's market. On the wall,

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Speaker 2: there's a portrait of the ruler of Dubai. Strike up

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Speaker 2: a conversation with one of them. So I'm just trying

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Speaker 2: to work out how basically he's in his early thirties

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Speaker 2: with thick black hair and an easy smile. We're going

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Speaker 2: to call him Rashid. I won't use his real name.

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Speaker 3: We'll say surly.

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Speaker 2: Rashid reaches into a safe and shows me a gold bar.

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Speaker 2: So that's a small, heavier than It's exactly how you'd

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Speaker 2: imagine it would look, a rectangular block, like the kind

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Speaker 2: you see being piled into a robbers van in a

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Speaker 2: Hollywood heist film. It's quite smart, Rashid's polite, but it's

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Speaker 2: noisy here and not private enough for the kind of

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Speaker 2: deal I want to make great thanks for. Outside Rashid's store,

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Speaker 2: I pass a couple more display counters. I enter another

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Speaker 2: gold traders, just shopping after that price. Much the same happens.

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Speaker 2: The trader pulls a bar of gold from a safe

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Speaker 2: and puts it on the counter. How much I leave?

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Speaker 2: But I'm a bit spooked. I wasn't sure he trusted me.

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Speaker 2: I might have just been imagining things, but I've done

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Speaker 2: a lot of undercover work, and sometimes you get a

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Speaker 2: feeling that the person doesn't quite buy your story. I

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Speaker 2: felt more secure chatting with Rashid, so I head out

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Speaker 2: of the gold Zuk and a few days later give

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Speaker 2: Rashid a call. I'm okay, how are you?

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Speaker 3: So I came in.

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Speaker 2: We get pleasantries out of the way and quickly move

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Speaker 2: on to business. Staying under cover. My plan is to

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Speaker 2: pretend I'm actually a cocaine gangster. With a fortune in

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Speaker 2: drug profits I need to launder. Rashid suggests how I

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Speaker 2: could carry gold out of Dubai back into the UK

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Speaker 2: no questions asked. He says, I can turn my potential

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Speaker 2: gold purchase into a chain to wear through customs without

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Speaker 2: paying any taxes, and that he has British customers who

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Speaker 2: have done it in the past. So the way you

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Speaker 2: get around it is you put it as a chain

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Speaker 2: round your neck, absolutly, absactly. I want to find out

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Speaker 2: how easy it would be for cocaine gangster to buy

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Speaker 2: thousands of pounds worth of gold here, and what if

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Speaker 2: any checks there would be on the source of the money.

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Speaker 2: So what is Rashid willing to accept?

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Speaker 5: Just name, your passport number, passport on your phone.

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Speaker 2: He says. All he really needs is my name for

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Speaker 2: the invoice and my passport number to put on the bill.

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Speaker 2: A photo of my passport on my phone is fine.

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Speaker 8: And you were found on some time and there's a problem.

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Speaker 2: But what about the source of my funds? If I

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Speaker 2: was looking to launder my cocaine profits, I certainly wouldn't

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Speaker 2: want anyone doing checks on where that money was from.

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Speaker 2: So I want to see how much gold Rashid might

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Speaker 2: be willing to sell me without any paperwork or check X.

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Speaker 3: The one one thing is, so do you need any

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Speaker 3: checks to.

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Speaker 2: Know where I've got the money?

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Speaker 3: If it's more than like ve so two three kg,

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Speaker 3: it's okay with no checks?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, because it's just the one thing is I'm

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Speaker 2: not sure where the money has come from.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, just between you and me, Just between you and me.

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Speaker 2: Literally, I think some of the money might be from

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Speaker 2: like crime, maybe drugs, like okay, that's just some of

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Speaker 2: the money might be from like drugs in the u K.

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Speaker 2: But I'm not sure. But if there's no checks, is

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Speaker 2: that okay?

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Speaker 3: You're going to me about exactly?

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Speaker 2: Yeah?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, issue on that point.

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Speaker 2: So what just happened? I just confessed some of the

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Speaker 2: money may come from drugs and crime. At first, Rashid

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Speaker 2: says he can't hear me, but after repeating it, I'm

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Speaker 2: confident he's understood my proposition. He says, if I bring

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Speaker 2: him dear ams, the local currency and not British pounds,

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Speaker 2: then there is no issue on that one. So what

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Speaker 2: does this actually mean? Rashid has admitted that he will

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Speaker 2: sell me three kilograms of gold in cash, knowing the

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Speaker 2: source of that money could well be from drugs such

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Speaker 2: as cocaine. That's one hundred and eighty thousand pounds of

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Speaker 2: criminal money or three hundred and forty grand in Aussie dollars,

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Speaker 2: nearly a quarter of a million of US. It's that simple.

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Speaker 2: If you, as a cocaine boss running a cartel, could

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Speaker 2: get your money here to Dubai. You can launder nearly

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Speaker 2: two hundred thousand pounds with barely a proper passport check.

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Speaker 3: Oh yeah, great stuff. I've be in touched. Take care

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Speaker 3: all right, thye.

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Speaker 2: So that was fascinating. He was not kind of phased

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Speaker 2: at all. Yeah, I mean I am amazed actually by

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Speaker 2: how easy it would be. You know, if I was

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Speaker 2: a criminal, we could be moving kilos of gold very

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Speaker 2: quickly in the next few weeks. Would be able to

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Speaker 2: quite easily launder significant amounts of money through that gold trader.

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Speaker 2: Following that call to Vashid, I revealed that I was,

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Speaker 2: in fact a journalist. I asked him if he had

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Speaker 2: anything to say about our phone conversation. He told me

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Speaker 2: that his business would require evidence of the source of

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Speaker 2: funds for gold purchases of around ten thousand pounds, and

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Speaker 2: he had no knowledge of criminals buying gold in Dubai.

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Speaker 2: If you look at it.

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Speaker 8: As a business model, you'll always try and stave on

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Speaker 8: step ahead of your competitor. And there are some really

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Speaker 8: clever people who've offered in crime and they will always

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Speaker 8: find another way to stay half a step ahead, and

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Speaker 8: unfortunately it's just a reality we often have to play

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Speaker 8: catch up.

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Speaker 2: This is Ian Truby. Ian's the National Crime Agency detective

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Speaker 2: I spoke to in the last episode who helped put

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Speaker 2: abdullahl Fallasse, the ring leader of the Sunshiner Lollipops gang,

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Speaker 2: behind bars. That's the group that smuggled over one hundred

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Speaker 2: million pounds out of the UK, using al Fallas's business

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Speaker 2: Omnivest Gold Trading as a cover. Once some money got

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Speaker 2: to Dubai, Ian and his team believer was laundered. But

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Speaker 2: how exactly the gang did it was harder to work out.

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Speaker 8: Sterling's gone in been changed into local currency and that

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Speaker 8: currency is in turn being handed off to somebody else.

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Speaker 8: We've got some evidence that there were some investment in gold,

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Speaker 8: there was some investment in mining interests, but how much

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Speaker 8: of that investment was from this particular cash I can't

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Speaker 8: comment I just don't have that data why gold. Gold

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Speaker 8: is a really attractive commodity for criminals. It holds its value.

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Speaker 8: You can source it from countries where there is no control,

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Speaker 8: places like Africa, South America. There's an awful lot of

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Speaker 8: illegal mining going on. Unfortunately, I don't think it's too

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Speaker 8: difficult to get that gold into the legitimate supply chains,

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Speaker 8: get it stuck in a vault and that's it. That

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Speaker 8: value is set there. It's an attractive commodity. It's an

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Speaker 8: appreciating commodity.

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Speaker 2: So following the thread, I mean quite literally, coca plants

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Speaker 2: turned into cocaine transported by the cartels. You know, the

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Speaker 2: commodity has been sold in the UK that is then

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Speaker 2: being turned into gold bars at the end of that process.

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Speaker 8: From my interpretation of what I've seen on this, an

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Speaker 8: element of that was happening Dubai being a gold market.

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Speaker 8: Now as much as anything else, that gold market would

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Speaker 8: also potentially be used by the criminals for laundering purposes

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Speaker 8: or the value transferred to by more cocaine or other

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Speaker 8: illicit commodity.

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Speaker 2: So as Ian says, the National Crime Agency believes some

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Speaker 2: of what Alphallaci did with the money from the Sunshine

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Speaker 2: and Lollipops gang could have ended up in a Dubai

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Speaker 2: gold souk. Now it was time to fully turn my

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Speaker 2: attention to al Phallasse and his front company, Omnives Gold Trading.

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Speaker 2: This was the company whose name was on letters that

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Speaker 2: the cash mules showed customs officials when arriving at Dubai Airport.

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Speaker 8: The next station is Business Bay.

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Speaker 2: I got hold of some documents that showed Omnives Gold

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Speaker 2: Trading was located in an area of Dubai called Business Bay,

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Speaker 2: an area packed with corporate high rises and there's ever

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Speaker 2: swanky hotels. It's hot. You sometimes forget when you're in

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Speaker 2: Dubai with all the air corn in the hotels, taxi

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Speaker 2: and metro that this is a city in a desert.

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Speaker 2: I make my way to one specific office building. It's

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Speaker 2: a thirty six story glass skyscraper called Prime Tower. It's

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Speaker 2: in this building that Abdullah Alflass's company, Omnives Gold Trading

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Speaker 2: was registered. The documents also reveal that Omnives Gold was

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Speaker 2: liquidated in November twenty twenty one, just days before Alflassi

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Speaker 2: was arrested. In layman's terms, that means that officially stop

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Speaker 2: trading and closed down, but I want to know if

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Speaker 2: there's any trace of it left in this building, and

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Speaker 2: if anyone remembers anything about it. And to be on

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Speaker 2: the safe side, I stay undercover. Dubai and the UAE

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Speaker 2: is not a country with great media freedom. I don't

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Speaker 2: want my cover to be blown. So I head inside,

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Speaker 2: pretending to be a British businessman. If anyone asks, I

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Speaker 2: walk quickly past security, looking straight ahead and find the lifts.

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Speaker 2: I go up a few floors from the documents. I'm

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Speaker 2: pretty sure I've got the right one. I exit the

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Speaker 2: lift and I'm in a corridor filled with pre walls,

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Speaker 2: dark floor tiles, and windowless wooden doors. Each one has

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Speaker 2: a small sign to the side of the frame with

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Speaker 2: the name of the business and an office number.

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Speaker 9: Remember Omnivest Gold. I have seen this name. I think

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Speaker 9: I have seen. You are not going to get side,

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Speaker 9: but I talked I have seen somewhere. Maybe he can garden.

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Speaker 2: One of the office workers walking through the holes remembers

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Speaker 2: omnives Gold trading. He confers with a colleague or friend,

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Speaker 2: who then takes me to where he thinks it once was.

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Speaker 9: Thank you, Thank you.

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Speaker 2: So I'm knocking on a door it's got no sign

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Speaker 2: on the door whatsoever. A man answers, I'm looking for

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Speaker 2: Omnivest Gold Trading.

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Speaker 9: My English, another dated thank you.

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Speaker 2: I'm trying to look in to see a bit more,

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Speaker 2: but I'm asked to wait a moment. Hi, I think

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Speaker 2: the thanks showing you. We're looking for Omnives Gold Trading

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Speaker 2: gold gold. This time, a woman with dark brown eyes

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Speaker 2: answers the door, wearing a hitje ab. It's called Omnivest.

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Speaker 2: She doesn't really give me the chance to see in

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Speaker 2: keeping the door slightly. Ajar, I'm so close to getting

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Speaker 2: a good look inside the office where Alphallas's money laundering

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Speaker 2: operation was registered. You're not Omnis because I thought you were.

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Speaker 3: It's completely different.

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Speaker 1: Another activity, another company.

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Speaker 2: The woman politely tells me that Omnives Gold Trading isn't here,

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Speaker 2: As she says, the current business is completely different. Another activity,

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Speaker 2: another company. Thank you so much, thank you, very grateful.

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Speaker 2: I feel deflated and desperate to know more about Abdullah

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Speaker 2: al Falassi and what he was doing with the money

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Speaker 2: that has been laundered out here in Dubai. Was Omnivest

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Speaker 2: Gold physically once here behind that door were the people

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Speaker 2: in the office or did al Faalaci simply rent it

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Speaker 2: so he had an address for his documents and that

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Speaker 2: one hundred million pounds plus of criminal money, much of

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Speaker 2: it from the cocaine trade. Where did it go? It

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Speaker 2: feels like it's dissolved into thin air. But it's time

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Speaker 2: to leave Dubai and head back to the UK. I've

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Speaker 2: got a flight to catch and have exhausted all my

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Speaker 2: leads for now. I'm here. I'm here.

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Speaker 6: Hi.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, oh Hi David, Yeah, not bad.

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Speaker 2: Back home in Manchester. A coal fi owner, my colleague

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Speaker 2: on this investigation. Obviously, you know we've been looking at

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Speaker 2: this Sunshine and Lollipop's Cash Mules gang the National Crime Agency.

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Speaker 2: I want to show us something because I have a

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Speaker 2: fresh lead on Abdullah Flassi. A former colleague of ours,

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Speaker 2: John Simpson, who used to be a crime correspondent at times,

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Speaker 2: I had gotten hold of some documents which he was

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Speaker 2: happy to share. I've sent you an email. Can you

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Speaker 2: see the one? It's a pdf Omnives Gold Trading LLC.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm just opening that up.

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Speaker 2: The documents were looking at give me much more information

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Speaker 2: about Abdullahu Flasse if you just go into the second

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Speaker 2: pdf on that email. If you can see what one

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Speaker 2: of them shows is all the companies that he was

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Speaker 2: involved in, not just omni vest gold trading, He had

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Speaker 2: stakes and a whole load of organizations, most of them

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Speaker 2: listed as a director or general manager.

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Speaker 1: Gosh, there's a really long list, isn't that.

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Speaker 2: It's huge.

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Speaker 1: Flower companies, food companies, Yeah, yeah, real estate, Wow, a.

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Speaker 2: Marble and ceramic trading company.

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Speaker 1: Oh gosh, the list goes on and on and on, doesn't.

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Speaker 1: I mean there's well over a dozen, nearly a couple

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Speaker 1: of dozen companies here, is there?

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Speaker 2: The scope is huge. I don't quite know what to

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Speaker 2: make of it all. I mean, this is one thing

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Speaker 2: that I don't even think the NCAA are aware of

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Speaker 2: the extent of you know, how many companies and how

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Speaker 2: diverse it was, it really is. There's something else was

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Speaker 2: going to show you as well, which I think you'll

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Speaker 2: be interested in. Yeah, just on that original email where

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Speaker 2: the PDFs were. If you click on do you see

382
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Speaker 2: the first link? We're looking at a website that showed

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Speaker 2: Alpha Lasse's reach went far beyond the UK and the UAE,

384
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Speaker 2: because it doesn't stop in Dubai. They actually stretched the

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Speaker 2: West Africa as.

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Speaker 1: Well, oh yeah, I wasn't expert. That's really interesting.

387
00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:06,960
Speaker 2: The website is for a company called Atlantic Holdings. The

388
00:27:07,119 --> 00:27:10,280
Speaker 2: site is no longer available online, but this is an

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00:27:10,359 --> 00:27:14,760
Speaker 2: archive version of it. Atlantic Holdings is based in Ghana.

390
00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:17,720
Speaker 1: Oh I see you're in Ghana now, So.

391
00:27:17,800 --> 00:27:21,480
Speaker 2: Now we're in Ghana and it was the parent company

392
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Speaker 2: of Omnives Gold Trading, the company Alpha Lasse used to

393
00:27:25,160 --> 00:27:29,280
Speaker 2: give cover to his cash mules. So what we can

394
00:27:29,320 --> 00:27:34,600
Speaker 2: see here is that in July sixteenth, twenty nineteen, Omnives

395
00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:38,919
Speaker 2: Gold Trading Llc was part of Atlantic Holdings and on

396
00:27:38,960 --> 00:27:43,160
Speaker 2: its website it says Omnives Gold Trading LLC is our

397
00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:47,440
Speaker 2: trading arm in Dubai specializing in gold and rough diamond trading.

398
00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:51,840
Speaker 2: We import raw gold, refine and sell to financial institutions

399
00:27:51,840 --> 00:27:56,960
Speaker 2: within the UAE. Oh wow, So what does this all mean?

400
00:27:58,040 --> 00:28:02,440
Speaker 2: Basically from what this website is saying, Al Fallaci's company,

401
00:28:02,520 --> 00:28:06,440
Speaker 2: Omnives Gold Trading was the Dubai arm of a business

402
00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:10,280
Speaker 2: based in Ghana, West Africa. Right and get this Furda.

403
00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:16,800
Speaker 2: Omnivest is also a member of the UAE Kimberly Process

404
00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:22,800
Speaker 2: Certification scheme that is a global initiative for stemming the

405
00:28:22,880 --> 00:28:27,560
Speaker 2: trade in conflict diamonds and promoting peace and security. And

406
00:28:27,640 --> 00:28:32,760
Speaker 2: yet we know this same company that claims to have

407
00:28:32,840 --> 00:28:37,680
Speaker 2: this certificate for this scheme is basically being used as

408
00:28:37,680 --> 00:28:39,240
Speaker 2: a cover for organized crime.

409
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Speaker 1: It's just extraordinary, isn't it incredible?

410
00:28:42,600 --> 00:28:46,600
Speaker 2: I think it's worth repeating this. According to this website,

411
00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:50,760
Speaker 2: the company omnives Gold Trading was allegedly part of a

412
00:28:50,760 --> 00:28:55,280
Speaker 2: global initiative to promote peace and security around conflict diamonds.

413
00:28:55,960 --> 00:29:00,600
Speaker 2: If true, the audacity of this does amaze me. Alphaalasei

414
00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:03,640
Speaker 2: was using omnivs Gold as a front for organized crime.

415
00:29:04,720 --> 00:29:09,160
Speaker 2: I've contacted the Kimberly Process certification scheme asking if he

416
00:29:09,240 --> 00:29:13,840
Speaker 2: had any comment on this, but they didn't respond. We

417
00:29:14,040 --> 00:29:17,840
Speaker 2: now know that al Fallaci owned a whole host of businesses.

418
00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:22,640
Speaker 2: We also know that omnives Gold was part of that

419
00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:29,000
Speaker 2: parent company, Atlantic Holdings. But who was Alphallase We know

420
00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:33,000
Speaker 2: he's an emorati whose wife's family owned property in London,

421
00:29:33,640 --> 00:29:37,360
Speaker 2: and previous to this had no criminal record, But the

422
00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:41,560
Speaker 2: website revealed new information about his past and also something

423
00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:46,280
Speaker 2: more about his business. If you click about us and

424
00:29:46,320 --> 00:29:52,440
Speaker 2: scroll down, it says our board members and there's three

425
00:29:52,480 --> 00:29:55,520
Speaker 2: of them on there, and one of them he looks

426
00:29:55,560 --> 00:29:58,520
Speaker 2: a lot younger than his police mugshot, and he's kind

427
00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:03,000
Speaker 2: of wearing his emirs white robes and headdress.

428
00:30:03,120 --> 00:30:04,400
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's yeah, but.

429
00:30:04,320 --> 00:30:08,400
Speaker 2: That is Abdullah al Fhaalasei. What we're looking at is

430
00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:12,840
Speaker 2: the three board members on the Atlantic Holdings website back

431
00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:17,640
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty, and there he is. Abdullah Alphaalassi is

432
00:30:17,800 --> 00:30:21,200
Speaker 2: on the board. He's not just a director of Omnivest

433
00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:24,680
Speaker 2: Gold Trading, but sits on the board of the wider

434
00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:31,240
Speaker 2: umbrella organization. Interestingly, he goes by the name Abdullah bin Beyat.

435
00:30:31,760 --> 00:30:36,920
Speaker 2: His full name is Abdullah Mohammad Ali bin Beyat Alphaalassi.

436
00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:41,160
Speaker 1: He just hasn't actually said al Fallaci on there, but

437
00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:42,040
Speaker 1: it's clearly him.

438
00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:43,560
Speaker 2: It's clearly him.

439
00:30:43,960 --> 00:30:46,480
Speaker 1: Like some of these details that he holds an MSc

440
00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:51,080
Speaker 1: from the Dubai Please College. Yeah, and there it mentions

441
00:30:51,160 --> 00:30:52,640
Speaker 1: omni Vest directly.

442
00:30:54,600 --> 00:30:57,160
Speaker 5: Today, I'm going to take you on a trip around by.

443
00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:02,280
Speaker 2: Picture this get at the highest three sixty infinity pool

444
00:31:02,320 --> 00:31:06,200
Speaker 2: in the world exclusively. In recent years, Dubai's become a

445
00:31:06,240 --> 00:31:12,120
Speaker 2: holiday destination and the UA is targeted tourists with adverts

446
00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:13,480
Speaker 2: like the ones I'm watching.

447
00:31:13,240 --> 00:31:17,200
Speaker 6: Now as City the redefines the Lasuer experience. They're talking

448
00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:20,720
Speaker 6: about fine dining, they're taking you from the sky, the

449
00:31:20,800 --> 00:31:24,120
Speaker 6: arcis is in the raven sea, and of course vintage

450
00:31:24,200 --> 00:31:26,160
Speaker 6: rides for how you're looking like a movie star.

451
00:31:27,040 --> 00:31:30,480
Speaker 2: But as I'm finding out, behind this veneer a place

452
00:31:30,480 --> 00:31:34,840
Speaker 2: of fun, some and affordable decadence if you look for it,

453
00:31:35,120 --> 00:31:45,040
Speaker 2: there's an uneasy tension. In February this year, the global

454
00:31:45,080 --> 00:31:48,360
Speaker 2: watchdog that looks at how countries deal with money laundering

455
00:31:48,760 --> 00:31:52,480
Speaker 2: took the UAE off its Gray list. That's the list

456
00:31:52,520 --> 00:31:56,240
Speaker 2: of countries under increased monitoring for how they're dealing with

457
00:31:56,360 --> 00:32:01,160
Speaker 2: things like money laundering and terrorist financing. While working on

458
00:32:01,200 --> 00:32:05,000
Speaker 2: this series, I contacted the UA authorities and asked them

459
00:32:05,040 --> 00:32:09,360
Speaker 2: about Omnives Gold and Abdullah al Fallase. Here's part of

460
00:32:09,400 --> 00:32:14,320
Speaker 2: their response, read by one of the producers on this show.

461
00:32:14,400 --> 00:32:18,440
Speaker 5: In February this year, the Financial Action Task Force, the

462
00:32:18,440 --> 00:32:22,880
Speaker 5: global standard setter for measures to fight money laundering, praised

463
00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:28,760
Speaker 5: the UAE's significant progress. The UAE is committed to continuing

464
00:32:28,800 --> 00:32:32,720
Speaker 5: these efforts and actions more than ever today and over

465
00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:34,320
Speaker 5: the longer term.

466
00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:40,880
Speaker 2: Back to al Pallasse, omnives Gold and Atlantic Holdings. Now

467
00:32:41,040 --> 00:32:43,959
Speaker 2: we know that Abdullah Felase went to jail in twenty

468
00:32:44,040 --> 00:32:47,360
Speaker 2: twenty two for being the ringleader of the Sunshine and

469
00:32:47,400 --> 00:32:52,000
Speaker 2: Lollipops money laundering operation. We also know that the website

470
00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:55,440
Speaker 2: for Atlantic Holdings is no longer active and there is

471
00:32:55,560 --> 00:32:59,400
Speaker 2: no sign of Omnivs Gold trading anymore. But I came

472
00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:03,480
Speaker 2: across from other website with a very similar name. It's

473
00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:06,160
Speaker 2: called Atlantic trust Holding.

474
00:33:07,280 --> 00:33:09,120
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm just looking through this one now.

475
00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:12,280
Speaker 2: So the interesting thing about this company, which is still

476
00:33:12,320 --> 00:33:15,640
Speaker 2: active is that it shares a lot of the same

477
00:33:15,720 --> 00:33:18,240
Speaker 2: companies that Atlantic Holdings had.

478
00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:18,760
Speaker 1: Wow.

479
00:33:20,080 --> 00:33:22,560
Speaker 2: I wanted to know more about this and if this

480
00:33:22,640 --> 00:33:26,480
Speaker 2: company has any connection to Alpha Lasse, who's currently in

481
00:33:26,520 --> 00:33:30,440
Speaker 2: prison in the UK. So I contacted Atlantic trust Holding

482
00:33:30,720 --> 00:33:34,960
Speaker 2: and asked them. The chairman sent me a response, part

483
00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:37,440
Speaker 2: of which is read here by producer.

484
00:33:39,240 --> 00:33:42,560
Speaker 7: Atlantic Trust Holding has been in existence for close to

485
00:33:42,680 --> 00:33:46,520
Speaker 7: twenty years now and had no dealings with Atlantic Holdings

486
00:33:46,600 --> 00:33:50,760
Speaker 7: of Dubai. The website for Atlantic Holdings of Dubai was

487
00:33:50,800 --> 00:33:55,000
Speaker 7: controlled by Alpha Lasse and his business partner. We had

488
00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:58,720
Speaker 7: nothing to do with any of his activities as a

489
00:33:58,760 --> 00:34:01,040
Speaker 7: matter of fact, I've had I had no contact with

490
00:34:01,080 --> 00:34:05,080
Speaker 7: Abdullah for some eight years now. We know nothing about

491
00:34:05,120 --> 00:34:08,720
Speaker 7: his activities, if anything at all. I would be someone

492
00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:12,719
Speaker 7: to be jubilant because Abdullah used his influence to literally

493
00:34:12,920 --> 00:34:13,720
Speaker 7: bully people.

494
00:34:17,239 --> 00:34:22,200
Speaker 2: So that's it. Then that trail ends there. I still

495
00:34:22,239 --> 00:34:25,080
Speaker 2: don't know exactly what Alpha Lassi did with the one

496
00:34:25,160 --> 00:34:28,360
Speaker 2: hundred and ten million that was smuggled into Dubai using

497
00:34:28,400 --> 00:34:32,400
Speaker 2: his signature and Omnivus gold as a cover, but I

498
00:34:32,520 --> 00:34:35,960
Speaker 2: have managed to find out more about his various business

499
00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:39,520
Speaker 2: interests in the UAE than has ever been known before.

500
00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:45,160
Speaker 2: This tangled web has shown me how international drugs gangs

501
00:34:45,200 --> 00:34:49,080
Speaker 2: can launder their money. Following the web of companies laid

502
00:34:49,120 --> 00:34:52,920
Speaker 2: out in these documents shows me just how complex and

503
00:34:53,120 --> 00:34:59,280
Speaker 2: multinational the modern day cocaine business has become. We followed

504
00:34:59,320 --> 00:35:03,160
Speaker 2: the raw material from the fields where it's grown, to

505
00:35:03,239 --> 00:35:06,400
Speaker 2: the ports and tunnels where it's exported out of South

506
00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:11,160
Speaker 2: America to Europe, at the massive distribution hub in Rotterdam,

507
00:35:11,719 --> 00:35:17,319
Speaker 2: to the UK and then Dubai. At every stage a

508
00:35:17,400 --> 00:35:20,640
Speaker 2: different criminal group has been involved in that part of

509
00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:24,640
Speaker 2: the business. And then from here the money trail has

510
00:35:24,680 --> 00:35:29,560
Speaker 2: suddenly split and leads into different countries and different businesses,

511
00:35:29,880 --> 00:35:34,960
Speaker 2: to gold, to mining. The National Crime Agency has also

512
00:35:35,080 --> 00:35:38,720
Speaker 2: told me that an alleged Sunshine and Lollipops gang member

513
00:35:39,160 --> 00:35:43,880
Speaker 2: was found with gold bars in Tanzanaia. I've also heard

514
00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:47,800
Speaker 2: via a source that Alphallasse was in contact with people

515
00:35:48,080 --> 00:35:52,319
Speaker 2: in the Netherlands and Hong Kong. While Alphallasse is now

516
00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:56,440
Speaker 2: behind bars, we know the profits from the cocaine trade

517
00:35:56,520 --> 00:36:01,400
Speaker 2: are at a record high, with money laundering widespread, and

518
00:36:01,440 --> 00:36:04,200
Speaker 2: I've got no doubt that there's more people like al

519
00:36:04,280 --> 00:36:09,280
Speaker 2: Fallasse willing to do the same. Fiona and I finish

520
00:36:09,320 --> 00:36:14,880
Speaker 2: off our chat. I don't think I've ever seen an

521
00:36:14,920 --> 00:36:16,640
Speaker 2: illustration quite so clear.

522
00:36:16,800 --> 00:36:19,800
Speaker 4: Step by step, yeah, of kind of from the UK

523
00:36:20,320 --> 00:36:24,480
Speaker 4: coat trade, through cash money through to Dubai. Let me

524
00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:28,160
Speaker 4: have this purchase of gold in Tanzania and Africa. It's

525
00:36:28,239 --> 00:36:30,120
Speaker 4: like a full circle, isn't it Almost?

526
00:36:30,520 --> 00:36:33,440
Speaker 1: It just shows, doesn't it, how this is obviously a

527
00:36:33,520 --> 00:36:36,879
Speaker 1: very fruitful area for the type of people that we're

528
00:36:36,880 --> 00:36:41,439
Speaker 1: looking into to legitimize money and put it into other

529
00:36:41,520 --> 00:36:45,880
Speaker 1: ventures far away from where the drug dealing is originally

530
00:36:46,400 --> 00:36:49,400
Speaker 1: going on that you've been sort of exposing in this podcast.

531
00:36:49,560 --> 00:36:56,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, so is that the end of our trail?

532
00:36:57,760 --> 00:37:08,160
Speaker 2: Well no, not quite. So this is it. This is

533
00:37:08,200 --> 00:37:11,640
Speaker 2: the end of the line. Because my other colleague on

534
00:37:11,680 --> 00:37:16,120
Speaker 2: this investigation, Stephen Drill, has arrived home after visiting the

535
00:37:16,160 --> 00:37:19,960
Speaker 2: Coker Fields in Columbia and the Narco Tunnels in Mexico

536
00:37:20,239 --> 00:37:23,760
Speaker 2: earlier in this series. And while we thought the money

537
00:37:23,760 --> 00:37:27,520
Speaker 2: trail had disappeared into this web of overseas investments and

538
00:37:27,600 --> 00:37:32,439
Speaker 2: corporate records, Stephen was just about to pick that trail up,

539
00:37:32,960 --> 00:37:37,680
Speaker 2: running right past his front door. Hi, my name's Stephen Drill.

540
00:37:37,760 --> 00:37:38,600
Speaker 8: I'm a journalist.

541
00:37:38,800 --> 00:37:41,240
Speaker 2: I just want to touch base. Are you the owner

542
00:37:41,239 --> 00:37:41,800
Speaker 2: of the property?

543
00:37:42,600 --> 00:37:46,880
Speaker 7: I just was wondering if the price has been seized

544
00:37:46,920 --> 00:37:48,919
Speaker 7: by the police or what's happening with it now?

545
00:37:51,440 --> 00:37:55,839
Speaker 2: That's next time in the final episode of Cocaine Inc.

546
00:38:03,800 --> 00:38:07,560
Speaker 1: Cocaine Nick is a joint investigation from The Times, The

547
00:38:07,680 --> 00:38:12,640
Speaker 1: Sunday Times and News Corp Australia. The reporters are David Collins,

548
00:38:12,920 --> 00:38:17,960
Speaker 1: Steven Drill and me Fiona Hamilton. Additional reporting on this

549
00:38:18,080 --> 00:38:22,640
Speaker 1: episode from John Simpson at The News Movement. The series

550
00:38:22,719 --> 00:38:27,640
Speaker 1: is produced by Sam Chanterassak. The executive producers are Will

551
00:38:27,760 --> 00:38:32,040
Speaker 1: Rowe and Dan Box. Audio production and editing is by

552
00:38:32,120 --> 00:38:37,440
Speaker 1: Jasper Leak, with original music by Tom Burchell. Special thanks

553
00:38:37,440 --> 00:38:40,680
Speaker 1: on this episode to our security team Chris Kemp and

554
00:38:40,719 --> 00:38:44,080
Speaker 1: Pete Emerson Thomas And if you want to get in

555
00:38:44,120 --> 00:38:47,400
Speaker 1: touch with any questions or thoughts on the series, email

556
00:38:47,520 --> 00:38:50,560
Speaker 1: cocaine In at the Times dot co dot uk