WEBVTT - The Dubai Gold Rush | 7 0:00:01.200 --> 0:00:05.960 Flower companies, food companies, real estate. 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:10.160 Wow, a marble and ceramic trading company. 0:00:10.400 --> 0:00:12.959 Oh gosh, the list goes on and on and on, doesn't. 0:00:13.000 --> 0:00:16.560 I mean, there's well over a dozen, nearly a couple 0:00:16.560 --> 0:00:17.960 of dozen companies here, is there. 0:00:18.640 --> 0:00:20.759 I mean, this is one thing that I don't even 0:00:20.840 --> 0:00:25.480 think the NCAA are aware of the extent of, you know, 0:00:25.520 --> 0:00:27.840 how many companies and how diverse. 0:00:27.400 --> 0:00:28.720 It was, it really is. 0:00:38.400 --> 0:00:40.800 So I'm a little bit nervous. I've never done this before. 0:00:42.440 --> 0:00:46.640 David Collins is speaking to a gold trader they met 0:00:46.680 --> 0:00:47.600 a few days. 0:00:47.320 --> 0:00:50.559 Before, one of them. Can you just remind me so 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:53.720 how much goals am I able to buy? I think 0:00:53.760 --> 0:00:57.080 you said I could spend one hundred thousand dirhm? 0:00:58.000 --> 0:00:58.480 Is that right? 0:01:00.440 --> 0:01:04.360 The reason David says he's nervous is that he's undercover. 0:01:05.000 --> 0:01:08.959 He's continuing his investigation into how criminals like the Sunshine 0:01:09.000 --> 0:01:12.480 and Lollipops gang were able to carry millions of pounds 0:01:12.480 --> 0:01:15.720 worth of dirty money from the UK to Dubai and 0:01:15.800 --> 0:01:17.360 where the money went next. 0:01:18.760 --> 0:01:20.600 If you're taking to UK, then. 0:01:21.959 --> 0:01:24.880 David's had a tip that the money can end up 0:01:24.920 --> 0:01:29.080 being turned into gold. 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:32.720 But in your hometown and your kid I don't know 0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:35.160 what's the rule there. 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:38.679 The trader asked David if he's planning on taking the 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:40.520 gold home to the UK. 0:01:42.120 --> 0:01:43.679 One or pol brothers customers. 0:01:44.360 --> 0:01:47.720 Yeah, they say that if you take gold Bartle it's 0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:49.600 a problem in the airport. 0:01:50.360 --> 0:01:53.760 He explains that simply taking a solid bar of gold 0:01:54.320 --> 0:01:59.480 might cause problems with UK customs, so they usually the. 0:01:59.560 --> 0:02:02.400 Chain, so there's no problem one. So the way you 0:02:02.440 --> 0:02:05.280 get around it is you put it as a chain 0:02:05.360 --> 0:02:05.920 round your neck. 0:02:08.160 --> 0:02:08.640 How much? 0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:13.239 The trader explains, It's easy to change the gold into 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:16.560 jewelry that way, No one in customs is going to 0:02:16.600 --> 0:02:21.120 look at it, meaning you can carry that gold home unchecked, 0:02:21.360 --> 0:02:25.280 then sell the gold and spend the money. 0:02:26.560 --> 0:02:28.040 Did it so? I want to wait? So it's a 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:28.520 bit lower. 0:02:29.080 --> 0:02:35.239 They discussed gold prices, when to invest, until David thinks 0:02:35.360 --> 0:02:40.280 it's time to ask the question because just. 0:02:40.240 --> 0:02:43.320 Between you and me, just between you and me, literally, 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:46.079 some of the money might be for drugs in the UK. 0:02:51.720 --> 0:02:55.360 David says, the money might be from drugs in the UK. 0:02:56.560 --> 0:03:00.240 The gold trader pauses for a second, then says there 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:10.680 is no issue on that one. I'm Fiona Hamilton and 0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:14.320 from the Times. The Sunday Times and News Corp Australia. 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:26.960 This is Cocainey Episode seven, the Dubai Gold Rush. 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:36.560 So final destination is to dub It is yes, very. 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:39.800 Thanks Leman, Welcome to Dubai and Tasha Airport local time. 0:03:41.840 --> 0:03:45.920 Arrived in Dubai late one Monday night. Just like Francesca, 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:49.240 the Cashmere I spoke to in the last episode, I 0:03:49.280 --> 0:03:54.080 picked up my bags and stroll past customs. Unlike Francesca, 0:03:54.720 --> 0:03:57.440 I didn't have millions of pounds stuffed into my suitcase 0:03:57.480 --> 0:04:04.160 to declare I'll take this one. Once outside, I get 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:09.480 a taxi to my hotel. Very futuristic car, a brand 0:04:09.560 --> 0:04:14.600 new Tesla. We drive down the Shiksaied Road, the main 0:04:14.720 --> 0:04:19.039 motorway that runs the length of the city. Skyscraper after 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:26.000 skyscraper filled with offices, condos and hotels whiz by. The 0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:29.360 city is the beating heart of the United Arab Emirates, 0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:32.680 one of the more business friendly economies in the Middle East. 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:41.719 You're on, Oh, that's the Burge. I'm app yes, Wow, 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:46.560 it looks like a windsail, doesn't it. Seeing the Burge 0:04:46.600 --> 0:04:52.080 Arab Hotel piqued my interest. It's a seven star hotel. Yeah, 0:04:52.120 --> 0:04:55.560 if that's even a thing. My taxi driver says, it's 0:04:55.600 --> 0:04:59.920 about ten pounds a night to stay. How much will 0:04:59.960 --> 0:05:03.000 it costs to have a wedding? Uh? 0:05:03.120 --> 0:05:03.600 Where you going? 0:05:04.720 --> 0:05:05.080 A lot? 0:05:07.279 --> 0:05:11.680 And it's here where Daniel Kinahan, an Irish boxing promoter 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:16.120 accused of running a global drug cartel dubbed the Cocaine Cowboys, 0:05:16.279 --> 0:05:20.000 got married in twenty seventeen. The wedding was said to 0:05:20.040 --> 0:05:23.000 be a who's who of those in the global drug trade. 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:29.080 The US Drug Enforcement Administration reportedly calculated that those on 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:32.640 the guest list had shipped twenty three billion pounds worth 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:37.039 of cocaine into Europe between them. Do you take the 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:40.000 customers there? You have so many dimes? Have you? What 0:05:40.160 --> 0:05:40.760 jobs did he do? 0:05:40.839 --> 0:05:41.000 Though? 0:05:41.040 --> 0:05:43.320 Did he never tell you? Do you like business people? 0:05:43.560 --> 0:05:50.160 They never see ow they have got so much, They 0:05:50.279 --> 0:05:54.360 never tell the secret of how they earned money macabby jokes. 0:05:56.480 --> 0:06:00.479 This year, it was revealed that Daniel Kinahan's wife owns 0:06:00.520 --> 0:06:05.000 a multimillion dollar villa in Dubai with gleaming white walls, 0:06:05.160 --> 0:06:10.080 elegant arched doorways and bright red roof tiles. I remember 0:06:10.120 --> 0:06:14.000 Pete Costa, the Dutch pineapple trader linked to the torture 0:06:14.080 --> 0:06:17.400 chambers Fiona went to check out. Earlier in this series, 0:06:18.400 --> 0:06:22.039 he said to have had a Dubai real estate portfolio 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:27.159 worth millions. It feels as if this modern city of 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:31.839 luxurious skyscrapers and anti shopping malls has become the place 0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:35.320 of choice for cartel bosses to kick back and malax 0:06:35.960 --> 0:06:40.760 away from their home countries in a different jurisdiction, Which 0:06:40.839 --> 0:06:43.080 is what's led me to the next stage in our 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:47.839 investigation into the global cocaine business, looking at what happens 0:06:47.920 --> 0:06:52.200 to the profits. Once you've got your criminal cash to Dubai, 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:56.839 how do you then launder that money on a large scale. Well, 0:06:56.880 --> 0:07:00.160 you want to get it into the legitimate economy and 0:07:00.200 --> 0:07:03.560 that makes it harder for law enforcement to trace it. 0:07:04.279 --> 0:07:06.800 And I've been tipped that a good way to do 0:07:06.839 --> 0:07:15.600 this is to invest it in gold. Brilliant, Thanks for 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:17.280 so this is the center. 0:07:17.000 --> 0:07:21.040 Of the main center, is this big shot. 0:07:22.320 --> 0:07:24.760 The next day, I leave the main tourist spot of 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:27.840 Dubai and go to an area known as the gold 0:07:27.920 --> 0:07:31.960 souk Asuki is Arabic for market, and this one is 0:07:32.160 --> 0:07:36.120 full of gold traders at their stalls, So you can 0:07:36.200 --> 0:07:41.760 buy gold here Gije's. You can weigh it in the gigs? 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:45.440 What like the bars of it? Wow? Do people do that? 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:50.440 My taxi driver drops me off, Thank you so much. 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:56.920 By the streets are full of small stalls, perfume shops, 0:07:57.000 --> 0:08:01.520 coffee stands as well as this, there's plenty of gold shops. 0:08:04.120 --> 0:08:07.520 Dubai was established in the nineteenth century as a small 0:08:07.560 --> 0:08:12.200 fishing village, but since then it's booms. Oil money, tourism 0:08:12.360 --> 0:08:16.440 and construction have seen the money flooding in. But gold 0:08:16.520 --> 0:08:20.120 is also a big part of Dubai's economy. This souk 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:24.040 I've just arrived at has existed since the nineteen forties, 0:08:24.400 --> 0:08:27.800 when traders and merchants from Iran and India first set 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:31.880 up their shops. By in nineteen sixties, this area had 0:08:31.920 --> 0:08:36.240 become an important hob in a global gold trade. And 0:08:36.280 --> 0:08:39.400 today people say there's over ten tons of gold in 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:42.720 this souk at any one time. But there's a dark 0:08:42.800 --> 0:08:46.840 side to this story. I've been told that cash is 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:51.160 invested into gold by criminals. So how simple would it 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:54.880 be for a British criminal to come here and do this. 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:02.680 Of the sea. 0:09:02.200 --> 0:09:06.920 That's just what I wanted. I enter part the souk 0:09:07.679 --> 0:09:11.200 and now I'm officially undercover. I'm in an area which 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:15.559 feels a bit like a department store, lined with display counters, 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:19.600 and then gold trader shops off to the side. I 0:09:19.679 --> 0:09:24.560 feel on edge. There's plenty of security guards everywhere. A 0:09:24.600 --> 0:09:28.840 look a glass shop, windows dripping with gold jewelry hanging 0:09:28.880 --> 0:09:33.160 from pack displays. They are perfect and exactly what wanted. 0:09:34.360 --> 0:09:37.080 I'd buy a cheap pair of knockoff sunglasses and a 0:09:37.160 --> 0:09:41.040 nice belt, and I ask for a recommendation of a 0:09:41.080 --> 0:09:52.000 decent gold trader wherever they're going to buy investing. I'm 0:09:52.040 --> 0:09:57.160 directed to his shop. There's a group of men sitting 0:09:57.240 --> 0:10:01.560 about making deals underneath a TV screen showing the day's 0:10:01.600 --> 0:10:09.640 gold market prices, today's market. That's today's market. On the wall, 0:10:09.840 --> 0:10:13.440 there's a portrait of the ruler of Dubai. Strike up 0:10:13.440 --> 0:10:18.520 a conversation with one of them. So I'm just trying 0:10:18.520 --> 0:10:24.559 to work out how basically he's in his early thirties 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:28.880 with thick black hair and an easy smile. We're going 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:31.600 to call him Rashid. I won't use his real name. 0:10:35.760 --> 0:10:41.680 We'll say surly. 0:10:43.920 --> 0:10:47.240 Rashid reaches into a safe and shows me a gold bar. 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:54.800 So that's a small, heavier than It's exactly how you'd 0:10:54.840 --> 0:10:58.880 imagine it would look, a rectangular block, like the kind 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:01.599 you see being piled into a robbers van in a 0:11:01.640 --> 0:11:08.480 Hollywood heist film. It's quite smart, Rashid's polite, but it's 0:11:08.559 --> 0:11:11.680 noisy here and not private enough for the kind of 0:11:11.760 --> 0:11:19.720 deal I want to make great thanks for. Outside Rashid's store, 0:11:20.120 --> 0:11:23.800 I pass a couple more display counters. I enter another 0:11:23.840 --> 0:11:30.480 gold traders, just shopping after that price. Much the same happens. 0:11:30.800 --> 0:11:33.160 The trader pulls a bar of gold from a safe 0:11:33.320 --> 0:11:41.880 and puts it on the counter. How much I leave? 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:45.360 But I'm a bit spooked. I wasn't sure he trusted me. 0:11:46.520 --> 0:11:48.960 I might have just been imagining things, but I've done 0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:52.040 a lot of undercover work, and sometimes you get a 0:11:52.080 --> 0:11:55.840 feeling that the person doesn't quite buy your story. I 0:11:55.880 --> 0:11:59.360 felt more secure chatting with Rashid, so I head out 0:11:59.400 --> 0:12:02.320 of the gold Zuk and a few days later give 0:12:02.400 --> 0:12:16.040 Rashid a call. I'm okay, how are you? 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:19.959 So I came in. 0:12:20.040 --> 0:12:23.080 We get pleasantries out of the way and quickly move 0:12:23.120 --> 0:12:27.160 on to business. Staying under cover. My plan is to 0:12:27.240 --> 0:12:31.240 pretend I'm actually a cocaine gangster. With a fortune in 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:35.640 drug profits I need to launder. Rashid suggests how I 0:12:35.679 --> 0:12:39.040 could carry gold out of Dubai back into the UK 0:12:39.559 --> 0:12:42.839 no questions asked. He says, I can turn my potential 0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:46.760 gold purchase into a chain to wear through customs without 0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:50.800 paying any taxes, and that he has British customers who 0:12:50.800 --> 0:12:53.200 have done it in the past. So the way you 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:55.480 get around it is you put it as a chain 0:12:55.559 --> 0:13:00.240 round your neck, absolutly, absactly. I want to find out 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:03.840 how easy it would be for cocaine gangster to buy 0:13:03.960 --> 0:13:07.720 thousands of pounds worth of gold here, and what if 0:13:07.800 --> 0:13:11.000 any checks there would be on the source of the money. 0:13:12.000 --> 0:13:15.160 So what is Rashid willing to accept? 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:26.160 Just name, your passport number, passport on your phone. 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:27.440 He says. All he really needs is my name for 0:13:27.480 --> 0:13:30.800 the invoice and my passport number to put on the bill. 0:13:31.400 --> 0:13:40.640 A photo of my passport on my phone is fine. 0:13:37.679 --> 0:13:41.520 And you were found on some time and there's a problem. 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:45.560 But what about the source of my funds? If I 0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:49.480 was looking to launder my cocaine profits, I certainly wouldn't 0:13:49.480 --> 0:13:53.200 want anyone doing checks on where that money was from. 0:13:53.840 --> 0:13:56.280 So I want to see how much gold Rashid might 0:13:56.360 --> 0:14:00.280 be willing to sell me without any paperwork or check X. 0:14:02.160 --> 0:14:04.720 The one one thing is, so do you need any 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:05.360 checks to. 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:06.280 Know where I've got the money? 0:14:08.280 --> 0:14:18.360 If it's more than like ve so two three kg, 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:20.440 it's okay with no checks? 0:14:22.120 --> 0:14:25.280 Yeah, okay, because it's just the one thing is I'm 0:14:25.280 --> 0:14:28.000 not sure where the money has come from. 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:32.920 Yeah, just between you and me, Just between you and me. 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:35.720 Literally, I think some of the money might be from 0:14:35.760 --> 0:14:45.720 like crime, maybe drugs, like okay, that's just some of 0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:47.800 the money might be from like drugs in the u K. 0:14:48.560 --> 0:14:52.760 But I'm not sure. But if there's no checks, is 0:14:52.800 --> 0:14:59.920 that okay? 0:15:00.240 --> 0:15:02.800 You're going to me about exactly? 0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:04.160 Yeah? 0:15:04.320 --> 0:15:06.280 Yeah, issue on that point. 0:15:09.560 --> 0:15:13.560 So what just happened? I just confessed some of the 0:15:13.600 --> 0:15:18.280 money may come from drugs and crime. At first, Rashid 0:15:18.320 --> 0:15:21.960 says he can't hear me, but after repeating it, I'm 0:15:22.040 --> 0:15:26.200 confident he's understood my proposition. He says, if I bring 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:30.120 him dear ams, the local currency and not British pounds, 0:15:30.520 --> 0:15:35.000 then there is no issue on that one. So what 0:15:35.040 --> 0:15:39.840 does this actually mean? Rashid has admitted that he will 0:15:39.840 --> 0:15:43.960 sell me three kilograms of gold in cash, knowing the 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:46.920 source of that money could well be from drugs such 0:15:46.920 --> 0:15:51.040 as cocaine. That's one hundred and eighty thousand pounds of 0:15:51.080 --> 0:15:55.960 criminal money or three hundred and forty grand in Aussie dollars, 0:15:56.000 --> 0:15:59.640 nearly a quarter of a million of US. It's that simple. 0:16:00.520 --> 0:16:03.520 If you, as a cocaine boss running a cartel, could 0:16:03.520 --> 0:16:06.840 get your money here to Dubai. You can launder nearly 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:10.880 two hundred thousand pounds with barely a proper passport check. 0:16:14.280 --> 0:16:18.560 Oh yeah, great stuff. I've be in touched. Take care 0:16:18.720 --> 0:16:22.520 all right, thye. 0:16:24.160 --> 0:16:27.320 So that was fascinating. He was not kind of phased 0:16:27.320 --> 0:16:32.240 at all. Yeah, I mean I am amazed actually by 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:35.280 how easy it would be. You know, if I was 0:16:35.320 --> 0:16:40.720 a criminal, we could be moving kilos of gold very 0:16:40.800 --> 0:16:44.600 quickly in the next few weeks. Would be able to 0:16:44.760 --> 0:16:50.440 quite easily launder significant amounts of money through that gold trader. 0:16:53.160 --> 0:16:56.240 Following that call to Vashid, I revealed that I was, 0:16:56.280 --> 0:16:59.120 in fact a journalist. I asked him if he had 0:16:59.160 --> 0:17:03.040 anything to say about our phone conversation. He told me 0:17:03.120 --> 0:17:05.840 that his business would require evidence of the source of 0:17:05.880 --> 0:17:09.959 funds for gold purchases of around ten thousand pounds, and 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:13.080 he had no knowledge of criminals buying gold in Dubai. 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:15.280 If you look at it. 0:17:15.200 --> 0:17:17.560 As a business model, you'll always try and stave on 0:17:17.560 --> 0:17:21.440 step ahead of your competitor. And there are some really 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:23.679 clever people who've offered in crime and they will always 0:17:23.680 --> 0:17:28.199 find another way to stay half a step ahead, and 0:17:28.280 --> 0:17:31.160 unfortunately it's just a reality we often have to play 0:17:31.200 --> 0:17:31.560 catch up. 0:17:33.000 --> 0:17:37.359 This is Ian Truby. Ian's the National Crime Agency detective 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:40.239 I spoke to in the last episode who helped put 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:44.399 abdullahl Fallasse, the ring leader of the Sunshiner Lollipops gang, 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:48.560 behind bars. That's the group that smuggled over one hundred 0:17:48.720 --> 0:17:52.760 million pounds out of the UK, using al Fallas's business 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:57.520 Omnivest Gold Trading as a cover. Once some money got 0:17:57.560 --> 0:18:01.480 to Dubai, Ian and his team believer was laundered. But 0:18:01.680 --> 0:18:04.960 how exactly the gang did it was harder to work out. 0:18:06.160 --> 0:18:09.480 Sterling's gone in been changed into local currency and that 0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:12.080 currency is in turn being handed off to somebody else. 0:18:13.200 --> 0:18:16.240 We've got some evidence that there were some investment in gold, 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:21.040 there was some investment in mining interests, but how much 0:18:21.160 --> 0:18:24.680 of that investment was from this particular cash I can't 0:18:24.680 --> 0:18:29.080 comment I just don't have that data why gold. Gold 0:18:29.160 --> 0:18:33.159 is a really attractive commodity for criminals. It holds its value. 0:18:33.840 --> 0:18:36.280 You can source it from countries where there is no control, 0:18:36.640 --> 0:18:39.919 places like Africa, South America. There's an awful lot of 0:18:40.000 --> 0:18:43.960 illegal mining going on. Unfortunately, I don't think it's too 0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:47.040 difficult to get that gold into the legitimate supply chains, 0:18:47.440 --> 0:18:49.280 get it stuck in a vault and that's it. That 0:18:49.359 --> 0:18:52.320 value is set there. It's an attractive commodity. It's an 0:18:52.359 --> 0:18:53.600 appreciating commodity. 0:18:54.680 --> 0:18:59.600 So following the thread, I mean quite literally, coca plants 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:04.879 turned into cocaine transported by the cartels. You know, the 0:19:04.960 --> 0:19:08.280 commodity has been sold in the UK that is then 0:19:08.440 --> 0:19:13.760 being turned into gold bars at the end of that process. 0:19:14.000 --> 0:19:16.560 From my interpretation of what I've seen on this, an 0:19:16.560 --> 0:19:20.119 element of that was happening Dubai being a gold market. 0:19:20.200 --> 0:19:23.480 Now as much as anything else, that gold market would 0:19:23.520 --> 0:19:26.800 also potentially be used by the criminals for laundering purposes 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:29.800 or the value transferred to by more cocaine or other 0:19:29.840 --> 0:19:30.720 illicit commodity. 0:19:31.960 --> 0:19:35.840 So as Ian says, the National Crime Agency believes some 0:19:35.920 --> 0:19:38.639 of what Alphallaci did with the money from the Sunshine 0:19:38.640 --> 0:19:42.000 and Lollipops gang could have ended up in a Dubai 0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:45.600 gold souk. Now it was time to fully turn my 0:19:45.680 --> 0:19:50.760 attention to al Phallasse and his front company, Omnives Gold Trading. 0:19:52.000 --> 0:19:55.080 This was the company whose name was on letters that 0:19:55.119 --> 0:19:59.760 the cash mules showed customs officials when arriving at Dubai Airport. 0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:07.440 The next station is Business Bay. 0:20:08.480 --> 0:20:11.359 I got hold of some documents that showed Omnives Gold 0:20:11.359 --> 0:20:15.400 Trading was located in an area of Dubai called Business Bay, 0:20:16.119 --> 0:20:19.720 an area packed with corporate high rises and there's ever 0:20:20.160 --> 0:20:25.200 swanky hotels. It's hot. You sometimes forget when you're in 0:20:25.280 --> 0:20:28.159 Dubai with all the air corn in the hotels, taxi 0:20:28.200 --> 0:20:30.840 and metro that this is a city in a desert. 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:35.760 I make my way to one specific office building. It's 0:20:35.800 --> 0:20:41.160 a thirty six story glass skyscraper called Prime Tower. It's 0:20:41.200 --> 0:20:45.280 in this building that Abdullah Alflass's company, Omnives Gold Trading 0:20:45.400 --> 0:20:50.159 was registered. The documents also reveal that Omnives Gold was 0:20:50.200 --> 0:20:54.760 liquidated in November twenty twenty one, just days before Alflassi 0:20:54.840 --> 0:20:59.560 was arrested. In layman's terms, that means that officially stop 0:20:59.640 --> 0:21:03.040 trading and closed down, but I want to know if 0:21:03.119 --> 0:21:06.000 there's any trace of it left in this building, and 0:21:06.080 --> 0:21:09.320 if anyone remembers anything about it. And to be on 0:21:09.359 --> 0:21:13.280 the safe side, I stay undercover. Dubai and the UAE 0:21:13.359 --> 0:21:16.520 is not a country with great media freedom. I don't 0:21:16.520 --> 0:21:19.240 want my cover to be blown. So I head inside, 0:21:19.680 --> 0:21:27.800 pretending to be a British businessman. If anyone asks, I 0:21:27.880 --> 0:21:33.760 walk quickly past security, looking straight ahead and find the lifts. 0:21:35.200 --> 0:21:38.359 I go up a few floors from the documents. I'm 0:21:38.400 --> 0:21:42.840 pretty sure I've got the right one. I exit the 0:21:42.920 --> 0:21:46.359 lift and I'm in a corridor filled with pre walls, 0:21:46.720 --> 0:21:50.880 dark floor tiles, and windowless wooden doors. Each one has 0:21:50.880 --> 0:21:53.320 a small sign to the side of the frame with 0:21:53.400 --> 0:21:55.639 the name of the business and an office number. 0:21:58.119 --> 0:22:03.480 Remember Omnivest Gold. I have seen this name. I think 0:22:03.720 --> 0:22:06.080 I have seen. You are not going to get side, 0:22:06.520 --> 0:22:09.359 but I talked I have seen somewhere. Maybe he can garden. 0:22:11.440 --> 0:22:14.640 One of the office workers walking through the holes remembers 0:22:14.680 --> 0:22:18.280 omnives Gold trading. He confers with a colleague or friend, 0:22:18.560 --> 0:22:20.800 who then takes me to where he thinks it once was. 0:22:21.640 --> 0:22:29.240 Thank you, Thank you. 0:22:31.600 --> 0:22:36.399 So I'm knocking on a door it's got no sign 0:22:36.720 --> 0:22:44.720 on the door whatsoever. A man answers, I'm looking for 0:22:45.040 --> 0:22:48.120 Omnivest Gold Trading. 0:22:49.480 --> 0:22:53.040 My English, another dated thank you. 0:22:53.119 --> 0:22:55.160 I'm trying to look in to see a bit more, 0:22:55.560 --> 0:22:59.840 but I'm asked to wait a moment. Hi, I think 0:22:59.840 --> 0:23:04.960 the thanks showing you. We're looking for Omnives Gold Trading 0:23:05.119 --> 0:23:09.480 gold gold. This time, a woman with dark brown eyes 0:23:09.560 --> 0:23:15.400 answers the door, wearing a hitje ab. It's called Omnivest. 0:23:16.840 --> 0:23:18.720 She doesn't really give me the chance to see in 0:23:19.520 --> 0:23:23.840 keeping the door slightly. Ajar, I'm so close to getting 0:23:23.880 --> 0:23:27.400 a good look inside the office where Alphallas's money laundering 0:23:27.440 --> 0:23:34.800 operation was registered. You're not Omnis because I thought you were. 0:23:35.080 --> 0:23:36.280 It's completely different. 0:23:36.320 --> 0:23:38.000 Another activity, another company. 0:23:39.240 --> 0:23:43.000 The woman politely tells me that Omnives Gold Trading isn't here, 0:23:43.840 --> 0:23:48.399 As she says, the current business is completely different. Another activity, 0:23:48.680 --> 0:23:53.080 another company. Thank you so much, thank you, very grateful. 0:23:58.400 --> 0:24:02.880 I feel deflated and desperate to know more about Abdullah 0:24:02.920 --> 0:24:05.359 al Falassi and what he was doing with the money 0:24:05.400 --> 0:24:08.960 that has been laundered out here in Dubai. Was Omnivest 0:24:09.000 --> 0:24:13.000 Gold physically once here behind that door were the people 0:24:13.040 --> 0:24:16.080 in the office or did al Faalaci simply rent it 0:24:16.359 --> 0:24:19.639 so he had an address for his documents and that 0:24:19.760 --> 0:24:23.520 one hundred million pounds plus of criminal money, much of 0:24:23.560 --> 0:24:27.199 it from the cocaine trade. Where did it go? It 0:24:27.200 --> 0:24:31.920 feels like it's dissolved into thin air. But it's time 0:24:32.000 --> 0:24:34.880 to leave Dubai and head back to the UK. I've 0:24:34.880 --> 0:24:37.399 got a flight to catch and have exhausted all my 0:24:37.560 --> 0:24:45.520 leads for now. I'm here. I'm here. 0:24:46.280 --> 0:24:46.399 Hi. 0:24:46.520 --> 0:24:51.120 Oh yeah, oh Hi David, Yeah, not bad. 0:24:51.760 --> 0:24:55.600 Back home in Manchester. A coal fi owner, my colleague 0:24:55.640 --> 0:24:59.280 on this investigation. Obviously, you know we've been looking at 0:24:59.359 --> 0:25:04.280 this Sunshine and Lollipop's Cash Mules gang the National Crime Agency. 0:25:04.880 --> 0:25:07.159 I want to show us something because I have a 0:25:07.240 --> 0:25:11.360 fresh lead on Abdullah Flassi. A former colleague of ours, 0:25:11.440 --> 0:25:14.639 John Simpson, who used to be a crime correspondent at times, 0:25:15.000 --> 0:25:17.520 I had gotten hold of some documents which he was 0:25:17.560 --> 0:25:21.080 happy to share. I've sent you an email. Can you 0:25:21.119 --> 0:25:24.919 see the one? It's a pdf Omnives Gold Trading LLC. 0:25:25.320 --> 0:25:26.800 Yeah, I'm just opening that up. 0:25:28.520 --> 0:25:31.680 The documents were looking at give me much more information 0:25:31.880 --> 0:25:35.879 about Abdullahu Flasse if you just go into the second 0:25:35.920 --> 0:25:39.440 pdf on that email. If you can see what one 0:25:39.440 --> 0:25:41.960 of them shows is all the companies that he was 0:25:42.000 --> 0:25:45.880 involved in, not just omni vest gold trading, He had 0:25:45.920 --> 0:25:49.400 stakes and a whole load of organizations, most of them 0:25:49.440 --> 0:25:51.880 listed as a director or general manager. 0:25:52.880 --> 0:25:55.119 Gosh, there's a really long list, isn't that. 0:25:55.240 --> 0:25:55.919 It's huge. 0:25:56.640 --> 0:26:03.280 Flower companies, food companies, Yeah, yeah, real estate, Wow, a. 0:26:03.359 --> 0:26:05.600 Marble and ceramic trading company. 0:26:05.880 --> 0:26:08.400 Oh gosh, the list goes on and on and on, doesn't. 0:26:08.440 --> 0:26:11.960 I mean there's well over a dozen, nearly a couple 0:26:12.000 --> 0:26:13.440 of dozen companies here, is there? 0:26:14.440 --> 0:26:18.119 The scope is huge. I don't quite know what to 0:26:18.160 --> 0:26:20.800 make of it all. I mean, this is one thing 0:26:20.920 --> 0:26:24.240 that I don't even think the NCAA are aware of 0:26:24.280 --> 0:26:27.880 the extent of you know, how many companies and how 0:26:27.960 --> 0:26:31.280 diverse it was, it really is. There's something else was 0:26:31.280 --> 0:26:32.880 going to show you as well, which I think you'll 0:26:32.880 --> 0:26:36.720 be interested in. Yeah, just on that original email where 0:26:36.760 --> 0:26:40.960 the PDFs were. If you click on do you see 0:26:40.960 --> 0:26:46.200 the first link? We're looking at a website that showed 0:26:46.280 --> 0:26:50.800 Alpha Lasse's reach went far beyond the UK and the UAE, 0:26:51.240 --> 0:26:56.000 because it doesn't stop in Dubai. They actually stretched the 0:26:56.320 --> 0:26:57.560 West Africa as. 0:26:57.440 --> 0:27:01.600 Well, oh yeah, I wasn't expert. That's really interesting. 0:27:02.680 --> 0:27:06.960 The website is for a company called Atlantic Holdings. The 0:27:07.119 --> 0:27:10.280 site is no longer available online, but this is an 0:27:10.359 --> 0:27:14.760 archive version of it. Atlantic Holdings is based in Ghana. 0:27:15.400 --> 0:27:17.720 Oh I see you're in Ghana now, So. 0:27:17.800 --> 0:27:21.480 Now we're in Ghana and it was the parent company 0:27:21.480 --> 0:27:25.119 of Omnives Gold Trading, the company Alpha Lasse used to 0:27:25.160 --> 0:27:29.280 give cover to his cash mules. So what we can 0:27:29.320 --> 0:27:34.600 see here is that in July sixteenth, twenty nineteen, Omnives 0:27:34.680 --> 0:27:38.919 Gold Trading Llc was part of Atlantic Holdings and on 0:27:38.960 --> 0:27:43.160 its website it says Omnives Gold Trading LLC is our 0:27:43.200 --> 0:27:47.440 trading arm in Dubai specializing in gold and rough diamond trading. 0:27:48.000 --> 0:27:51.840 We import raw gold, refine and sell to financial institutions 0:27:51.840 --> 0:27:56.960 within the UAE. Oh wow, So what does this all mean? 0:27:58.040 --> 0:28:02.440 Basically from what this website is saying, Al Fallaci's company, 0:28:02.520 --> 0:28:06.440