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Speaker 1: Just a warning, this episode contains descriptions of suicidal thoughts.

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Speaker 2: From what I've seen, he had a very good lifestyle,

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Speaker 2: expensive watches, nice places to live, certainly had a top

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Speaker 2: of arrange Mercedes for the top of my head, traveled

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Speaker 2: a lot, had use of his wife's family's flat in London.

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Speaker 2: He's got no criminal record, He's not known to law

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Speaker 2: enforcement anywhere in the world prior to this, so you know,

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Speaker 2: he had all of the front of a successful, legitimate businessman.

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Speaker 3: I've relived this in my head over and over so

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Speaker 3: many times because it was just horrendous.

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Speaker 1: It's six am on a late spring morning in northern England.

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Speaker 1: The sun has already risen. On the top floor of

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Speaker 1: a terraced house, a woman is peacefully asleep.

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Speaker 3: I was just done me on in bed. I remember

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Speaker 3: I didn't have any underwear on. I just had a

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Speaker 3: brower on.

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Speaker 1: Suddenly there's a banging her front door.

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Speaker 3: I thought it was a postman with a parcel or something.

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Speaker 3: So I remember, like EFFI and Jeffing walking down the

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Speaker 3: stairs thinking why the fuck are they banging so loud.

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Speaker 3: I got a towel and wrapped it around me, you know,

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Speaker 3: so I could sort of eye behind the door and

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Speaker 3: grab my parcel. I opened the door and they said

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Speaker 3: it was the police. And my initial thought was something's

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Speaker 3: happened to my son, because if the police are knocking

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Speaker 3: your door at that time, you think something's happened to

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Speaker 3: somebody that you know. Never in a million years did

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Speaker 3: I think it was anything that I'd done. That was

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Speaker 3: not my initial thought.

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Speaker 1: As it turns out, her initial thought was wrong. The

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Speaker 1: police are here to speak to her.

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Speaker 3: At first, I only saw like three of them on

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Speaker 3: the doorstep, and then when I looked around them, I

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Speaker 3: saw that there was laws more of them. I remember

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Speaker 3: saying I've got no onncas on because they were trying

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Speaker 3: to put their way in, and I was like, I've

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Speaker 3: got no fucking knickers on, and they were like, yeah,

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Speaker 3: we don't care, and just push the door and just

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Speaker 3: sort of frog match me upstairs, and then said I'm

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Speaker 3: go in the bedroom with this female officer and get dressed.

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Speaker 3: I remember I was on my period at the time

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Speaker 3: and saying to her, I need to go like sort

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Speaker 3: myself out, and she was like, well, I need to

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Speaker 3: come with you, and she basically came with me to

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Speaker 3: the toilet.

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Speaker 1: The officer watches her every movement. She's concerned the woman

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Speaker 1: might flush away her mobile phone, which could have incriminating evidence.

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Speaker 3: I remember one of the officers looking around my house

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Speaker 3: and saying it's a nice house, like you're not the

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Speaker 3: sort of person to be involved in this sort of stuff.

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Speaker 1: They let her get dressed. She's taken into her front room,

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Speaker 1: where she's surrounded by a group of officers. They're from

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Speaker 1: the UK's National Crime Agency, tasked with fighting organized crime.

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Speaker 1: They're often compared to the FBI.

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Speaker 3: And then they sat me down on the sofa, read

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Speaker 3: me my rights. I was thinking, this is not me,

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Speaker 3: this is not happening to me, this is not real.

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Speaker 3: It was like a dream. And then they basically said

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Speaker 3: I was arrested for money laundring and being involved in

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Speaker 3: an international crime gang. And then I just burst out crying.

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Speaker 1: I'm Fiona Hamilton and from The Times, The Sunday Times

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Speaker 1: and News Corp Australia. This is Cocaine Inc. Episode six,

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Speaker 1: Sunshine and Lollipops. Last time, David Collins was in Merseyside

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Speaker 1: where the cocaine retail market is chaotic but there's still

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Speaker 1: profit to be made.

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Speaker 4: Yes there is, but the problem of drug money is

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Speaker 4: it's dirty, meaning if you try to spend the cash

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Speaker 4: that you made from selling coke, then that's going to

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Speaker 4: raise suspicions about where all those banknotes came from. So

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Speaker 4: you need to clean that money to make it look

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Speaker 4: like it came from legitimate business. In the UK, gangs

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Speaker 4: do that by fiddling the books in legal businesses like

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Speaker 4: this tanning salon. Ten minutes on a subed costs you

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Speaker 4: three pounds in cash, no cards, so no electronic trail.

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Speaker 4: It's quiet today. There's only been three customers wanted to

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Speaker 4: use a sunbed, but that's okay because according to the

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Speaker 4: business accounts, which are kept on paper, at least one

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Speaker 4: hundred people came through. That sleight of hand means a

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Speaker 4: salon zonner can go to a bank and pay three

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Speaker 4: hundred pounds as a day's takings, making that money look

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Speaker 4: as if it's legal. Of course it isn't. Only nine

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Speaker 4: pounds is from real customers. The rest is from selling cocaine.

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Speaker 4: But once it's in the bank, nobody can prove that.

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Speaker 4: Do that five days a week, fifty two weeks a

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Speaker 4: year and you can clean almost eighty thousand pounds through

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Speaker 4: this one salon enough to buy a BMW or put

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Speaker 4: down a deposit on a house and a nice part

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Speaker 4: of the city. But the cocaine business isn't about scraping

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Speaker 4: together enough cash for a house deposit. In this world,

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Speaker 4: eighty grand is only spare change. The real operators they

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Speaker 4: clean their money using a similar method to this subed operation,

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Speaker 4: but they do it on a much bigger scale, Which

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Speaker 4: brings me back to the woman who was woken by police,

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Speaker 4: the person Fiona was telling you about at the start

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Speaker 4: of the episode, and how I found myself going to

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Speaker 4: meet her. So I'm sitting in a hotel room. It's

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Speaker 4: a secret location. So often people who want to give

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Speaker 4: you stories in the world of organized crime, do you

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Speaker 4: want to stay anonymous? It's not unusual. However, what is

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Speaker 4: unusual about this interview is who she is and what

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Speaker 4: she did. We're not going to use her name and

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Speaker 4: we're not going to identify her. So what you're about

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Speaker 4: to hear is her words, but an actor speaking those words.

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Speaker 3: In twenty nineteen, just before all this happened, I was

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Speaker 3: in a really good place. I was probably at the

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Speaker 3: top of my game. I just got out of a

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Speaker 3: horrible relationship, moved into a beautiful home. I was self

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Speaker 3: implied some a salary will theary, but on a good

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Speaker 3: month it could be anywhere between four and six grand.

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Speaker 3: Was exactly where I wanted it to be. I was

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Speaker 3: massively into my fitness. I had a great group of friends,

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Speaker 3: and I was just very very happy.

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Speaker 4: I'm going to call this woman Francesca. I'd describe her

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Speaker 4: as somewhat glamorous. She works in a beauty industry. I

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Speaker 4: won't be any more specific than that. She's warm, friendly

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Speaker 4: and bubbly. You can tell she spends a working life

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Speaker 4: chatting with lots of different people and putting them at ease.

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Speaker 4: This is the first time she or any of the

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Speaker 4: people she got mixed up with, have publicly told their story.

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Speaker 4: That story starts in late twenty nineteen and early twenty twenty,

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Speaker 4: when Francesca was, as she says, where she wanted to be.

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Speaker 4: They now follows a ministerial broadcast from the Prime Minister.

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Speaker 5: Good evening, the coronavirus is the biggest threat this country

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Speaker 5: has faced for decades, and this country is not alone.

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Speaker 3: Then lockdown here and completely turn my life upside down

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Speaker 3: and screwed.

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Speaker 5: Me from this evening. I must give the British people

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Speaker 5: a very simple instruction, you must stay at home. I

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Speaker 5: am officially declaring a national emergency.

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Speaker 4: Life and frankly, freedom as we know it are both

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Speaker 4: going to change dramatically.

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Speaker 3: The breaking news stay at home, that is the order tonight.

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Speaker 3: More than three billion people in almost seventy countries and

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Speaker 3: territories have been asked to stay at home.

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Speaker 4: On the twenty third of March. In twenty twenty, as

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Speaker 4: the COVID pandemic swept across the globe, the UK went

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Speaker 4: into a national lockdown, and for those like Francesca who

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Speaker 4: needed to meet people face to face and make a living,

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Speaker 4: that was a problem.

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Speaker 3: I was out of work, so all of my money

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Speaker 3: just stopped. I skoot to the bank of mom and

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Speaker 3: dad and they don't have a lot of money.

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Speaker 4: What did your finances look like at that point?

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Speaker 3: Absolutely dire loads of debt, not just to credit cards

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Speaker 3: and whatnot, but to friends and family, which was just

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Speaker 3: keeping me up at night.

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Speaker 4: How much do you reckon? Roughly like total debt to friends, family, credit.

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Speaker 3: Cards, probably about twenty grand. At that point, I was thinking,

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Speaker 3: am I going to lose my home? Because I'd spoken

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Speaker 3: to my landlord and I'd asked him if I could

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Speaker 3: have a bit of a break on my rent payments,

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Speaker 3: and he was just like, absolutely not. If you can't

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Speaker 3: afford it, you can get out.

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Speaker 4: In May of twenty twenty, COVID restrictions started to ease

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Speaker 4: a little, but the beauty sector was still classed as

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Speaker 4: high risk, which meant Francesca would not be allowed to

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Speaker 4: work until later that summer.

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Speaker 3: I met a friend of a friend and she was

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Speaker 3: in a similar industry to me, so we were kind

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Speaker 3: of exchanging notes and having a bit of a moan

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Speaker 3: about it, and then she said, well, actually I've been

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Speaker 3: giving this opportunity to work and to buy for a

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Speaker 3: beauty academy. You get flown first class and you make

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Speaker 3: X amount of money. And that was initially how she

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Speaker 3: sold it to me, and then bit by bit it

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Speaker 3: became apparent that it wasn't what she initially said.

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Speaker 4: It was hand on heart. What did you think it was?

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Speaker 3: My first question was is it drugs? Because I just

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Speaker 3: knew that I would not smuggle drugs, But it was money.

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Speaker 4: What exactly were you asked to do? I was asked to.

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Speaker 3: Take suitcases full of money. I wasn't told the exact amount,

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Speaker 3: but I did know that it was more than was

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Speaker 3: legally allowed, and then that money would be sort of

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Speaker 3: supplied with some documents so that we could declare it

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Speaker 3: in Dubai.

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Speaker 4: So this was the job. What Francesco had agreed to

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Speaker 4: do was carry suitcases from London to Dubai, but she

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Speaker 4: didn't quite know what she was getting into because inside

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Speaker 4: those suitcases was millions of pounds in banknotes. This was

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Speaker 4: the hard cash street profit of organized crime groups, much

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Speaker 4: of it coming from cocaine. The way it worked is

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Speaker 4: that Francesca would go to Heathrow Airport with another woman

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Speaker 4: and check in on business class. They turn up in pairs,

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Speaker 4: pretending they were going on a girl's weekend away. In return,

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Speaker 4: they were paid three thousand pounds in cash. The group

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Speaker 4: would later become known as a Sunshine and Lollipops gang,

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Speaker 4: named after one of their WhatsApp groups. Francesca's first assignment

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Speaker 4: was in the summer of twenty twenty. What were thinking

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Speaker 4: in bed the night before?

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Speaker 3: I had mixed emotions, scared of the thought of checking in,

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Speaker 3: just overthinking every little detail of it, but also a

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Speaker 3: little bit of excitement as well, because I've never flown

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Speaker 3: business class before. And too experienced to buy.

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Speaker 4: The day of the flight, Francesca and another woman took

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Speaker 4: the train to London together. How it worked was that

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Speaker 4: they would get WhatsApp messages from those higher up in

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Speaker 4: the chain telling them where to go and what to do.

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Speaker 3: Everybody had to meet at a Starbucks in London. I

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Speaker 3: think we ended up having to wait four hours or something.

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Speaker 3: The other person I was doing it with said they

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Speaker 3: just do this all the time. They just changed plans

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Speaker 3: for one reason or another, and you don't get much detail.

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Speaker 4: The women didn't know who they were working for. All

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Speaker 4: they could do was wait for instructions.

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Speaker 3: And then a driver would come to collect us from

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Speaker 3: the Starbucks. This very swanky car blacked out, you know,

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Speaker 3: like a proper show for in a people carrier. We

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Speaker 3: were getting messages telling us what to do next. They

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Speaker 3: want to know exactly where you are at all times.

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Speaker 3: The driver was obviously getting messed as well, so that

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Speaker 3: they knew exactly where to go, and then we would

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Speaker 3: go to another address to collect the cases in a

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Speaker 3: really swanky part of London.

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Speaker 4: Soon the driver pulled up outside a very plush building

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Speaker 4: in London's West End. The can you imagine TV stars

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Speaker 4: or maybe a hedge fund executive would live in.

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Speaker 3: We were just sat in the car, and then the

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Speaker 3: driver would get out and two people would come from

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Speaker 3: the apartment or the house with the cases and put

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Speaker 3: them in the back of the car.

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Speaker 4: The whole time the women never left the car so

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Speaker 4: couldn't see exactly what was happening or who was involved.

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Speaker 3: Between them, they'd count them and say to the driver, there's,

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Speaker 3: you know, this many cases, and I was like, what

225
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Speaker 3: the fuck is going on? There was seven cases. I thought, shit,

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Speaker 3: that's a lot of money.

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Speaker 4: And what did the cases look like?

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Speaker 3: Black hardshell, good quality, with the code on to open it,

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Speaker 3: which were clearly locked. And I do remember thinking, what

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Speaker 3: if they ask us to open it and we don't

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Speaker 3: know the code, that's going to look pretty sous. And

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Speaker 3: then the driver started driving again, and constantly you would

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Speaker 3: be getting text saying where you now, Like if you're

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Speaker 3: in traffic, you'd have to constantly be telling them you wereabouts.

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Speaker 4: The driver, who had still not said a single word

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Speaker 4: to the w drove them to Heathrow, one of the

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Speaker 4: world's busiest airports, the.

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Speaker 3: Closest to the airport I got. The more nervous I

239
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Speaker 3: got they did tell us to get a little bit

240
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Speaker 3: dressed up, just look a bit suave. So I remember

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Speaker 3: making sure I had a full face of makeup on

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Speaker 3: and just looking like I would be the sort of

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Speaker 3: person that would fly business class. I'm not there in

244
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Speaker 3: my you know, capatrack suit.

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Speaker 4: It had been hours since Francesca had arrived in London,

246
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Speaker 4: but finally late in the evening, throughout heath Row.

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Speaker 3: We get to the airport, get the trolleys. I got three,

248
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Speaker 3: the other person got four, and then wheel them over

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Speaker 3: to the checking desk. And it's pretty quiet in the airport.

250
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Speaker 3: There's not a lot of people there, and that's for

251
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Speaker 3: a reason because they rushed through, as you've not got

252
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Speaker 3: a lot of time to get onto the flight.

253
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Speaker 4: Whoever was organizing this operation knew that the later the

254
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Speaker 4: women arrived at the airport, especially as business class customers,

255
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Speaker 4: they would be less likely to have their luggage checked thoroughly,

256
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Speaker 4: and instead rushed onto the plane. Everything was set up

257
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Speaker 4: to give the impression that these were busy, successful women

258
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Speaker 4: running late for an expensive flight, not the kind of

259
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Speaker 4: people who you need to ask questions. Any baggage can

260
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Speaker 4: we take quite quick at the four weeks But in

261
00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:35,280
Speaker 4: that moment where you've got the seven cases and you're

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Speaker 4: picking them up one by one and putting them on

263
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Speaker 4: the little conveyor belt that goes into the back are yeah,

264
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Speaker 4: what were you thinking? Then?

265
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Speaker 3: It was a million thoughts like shit, what if they

266
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Speaker 3: opened the case? But then equally just smiling and playing

267
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Speaker 3: this role of this fancy lady that's flying business class.

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Speaker 4: It worked. Within an hour, Francesca and the other woman

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Speaker 4: were walking onto the flight, turning left sitting in business

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Speaker 4: class while their cases were being loaded onto the plane.

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Speaker 4: The flight attendant came round offering champagne, but until the

272
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Speaker 4: plane's wheels left the runway, there was still a chance

273
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Speaker 4: it could all go wrong. Francesca even daydreamed about it.

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Speaker 3: I remember visualizing security coming onto the flight. But once

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Speaker 3: the flight let a tarmac and you're up in the

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Speaker 3: air and you've got that glass of champagne in your hand,

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Speaker 3: the sense of relief I cannot explain to you.

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Speaker 4: Seven hours later, the plane landed in Dubai, a gleaming

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Speaker 4: city of skyscrapers and extravagant spending in the United Arab Emirates.

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Speaker 4: At this point, the women were sent the codes to

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Speaker 4: open the suitcases again via WhatsApp. Before they could leave,

282
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Speaker 4: they had to declare the money flagging down a customs official.

283
00:18:04,200 --> 00:18:07,639
Speaker 4: Francesca was led into a room with opate glass with

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Speaker 4: two officers inside, and.

285
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Speaker 3: Then they're just like taking the money out of the

286
00:18:12,520 --> 00:18:15,959
Speaker 3: case and then just took it on the table count it.

287
00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:19,040
Speaker 3: They don't bat an eyelid because as soon as you

288
00:18:19,119 --> 00:18:22,200
Speaker 3: see that paperwork, I mean one they must see it

289
00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:25,399
Speaker 3: all the time, or two that paperwork tells them everything

290
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Speaker 3: they need.

291
00:18:26,920 --> 00:18:30,600
Speaker 4: The paperwork Francesca's referring to is what you're handed over

292
00:18:30,680 --> 00:18:34,639
Speaker 4: to the customs officials. That letter said the money was

293
00:18:34,640 --> 00:18:39,200
Speaker 4: for a registered business based in Dubai called Omnivest Gold Trading.

294
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Speaker 4: That company was owned by a man called Abdullah al Fallassi.

295
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Speaker 4: To me, it seems amazing that they didn't ask any

296
00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:51,600
Speaker 4: more questions about two British women carrying millions of pounds

297
00:18:51,640 --> 00:18:55,280
Speaker 4: in their suitcases. Yes, there was paperwork, but at least

298
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Speaker 4: flag it is suspicious. Anyway, the emiralty officials simply counted

299
00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:01,240
Speaker 4: it out.

300
00:19:03,760 --> 00:19:06,399
Speaker 3: The first time I saw the money, I felt like

301
00:19:06,480 --> 00:19:09,480
Speaker 3: I was in a film or it wasn't real. It

302
00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:13,359
Speaker 3: was just so real. It was like a dream. I

303
00:19:13,359 --> 00:19:15,960
Speaker 3: couldn't believe how much it was. I didn't really think

304
00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:19,520
Speaker 3: it was going to be into the millions, and I thought,

305
00:19:20,520 --> 00:19:22,439
Speaker 3: what the fuck have I got myself into?

306
00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:28,880
Speaker 4: After being waved through, Francesca's final stop was the arrivals hall.

307
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Speaker 3: As soon as you walked through that door, there's somebody

308
00:19:32,520 --> 00:19:36,040
Speaker 3: there straight away to meet you, and obviously they know

309
00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:39,680
Speaker 3: that you've got seven cases, they know exactly who you are,

310
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Speaker 3: and they know what you look like. He then walked

311
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Speaker 3: with you to the cars. They took all the suitcases

312
00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:50,160
Speaker 3: and another car just had a driver in and that's

313
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Speaker 3: the one we got in, and then they basically just

314
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Speaker 3: said thank you.

315
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Speaker 4: That thank you was the last thing Francesca heard about

316
00:20:01,359 --> 00:20:05,119
Speaker 4: the money. Two women spent the next few days soaking

317
00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:07,760
Speaker 4: up the sun in a five star hotel and that

318
00:20:07,920 --> 00:20:12,320
Speaker 4: was it. Job done. Francaska pulled this stunt three times

319
00:20:12,320 --> 00:20:16,200
Speaker 4: in total, smuggling millions of pounds worth of criminal money

320
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Speaker 4: out of the UK, with a substantial part of that

321
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Speaker 4: link to cocaine.

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Speaker 2: So when I saw or realize the scope and depth

323
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Speaker 2: of the information on abdelayl Felassi's phones, that was a

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Speaker 2: real fall off your chair moment for me. I didn't

325
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Speaker 2: expect it. I've never seen that before. It took hours

326
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Speaker 2: and hours and hours to go through it all. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: it was surprising, challenging yet really really good moment.

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Speaker 4: I'm in a small windowless room in a hotel Hefro Airport,

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Speaker 4: and I'm sitting Officer Ian trueby, a senior investigating officer

330
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Speaker 4: for the National Crime Agency. We're talking about the cash

331
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Speaker 4: smuggling operation run by the Sunshine and Lollipop's gang. Ian's

332
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Speaker 4: telling me about the moment he and his team got

333
00:21:17,280 --> 00:21:21,600
Speaker 4: access to a phone belonging to Abdullah al Fhallase. That's

334
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Speaker 4: the person listed as the owner of Omnibus Gold Trading,

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00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:28,600
Speaker 4: the company on the letter Francesca was given to hand

336
00:21:28,640 --> 00:21:33,159
Speaker 4: to officials in Dubai back to our Phallas's phone and

337
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Speaker 4: what Ian was seeing.

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Speaker 2: And I thought, this is a treasure trove. And it

339
00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:43,000
Speaker 2: just got better and better, which only why I can

340
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Speaker 2: describe it. Everybody was pretty excited at that point because

341
00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:50,040
Speaker 2: I think we'd understood, we were probably getting an understanding

342
00:21:50,560 --> 00:21:55,040
Speaker 2: that we probably hadn't seen before about how this actually worked.

343
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Speaker 4: Ian is a thoughtful character and quite unassuming. You wouldn't

344
00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:02,120
Speaker 4: think to me him, but he's the man who helped

345
00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:05,919
Speaker 4: bring down one of the biggest cash smuggling operations in

346
00:22:06,080 --> 00:22:06,879
Speaker 4: UK history.

347
00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:11,240
Speaker 2: It was my team that brought down the Sunshine and

348
00:22:11,240 --> 00:22:15,280
Speaker 2: Lollipops money laundering group. This was a group of people

349
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Speaker 2: that were recruited to carry suitcases full of cash out

350
00:22:19,760 --> 00:22:24,160
Speaker 2: of the UK and take them to Dubai, a very fundamental,

351
00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:25,760
Speaker 2: straightforward method of money laundering.

352
00:22:26,640 --> 00:22:33,000
Speaker 4: While straightforward, the group was undeniably sophisticated. As investigation continued,

353
00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:37,399
Speaker 4: Ian was able to work out smuggling operation started in

354
00:22:37,440 --> 00:22:42,600
Speaker 4: November twenty nineteen, a few months before Francesca was recruited.

355
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Speaker 4: In the summer of twenty twenty. In just over a year,

356
00:22:47,040 --> 00:22:50,520
Speaker 4: the cash mules were able to make eighty three separate trips.

357
00:22:51,280 --> 00:22:55,199
Speaker 4: For most of that time, things ran smoothly. It was

358
00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:55,760
Speaker 4: like a business.

359
00:22:55,920 --> 00:22:59,080
Speaker 2: They submitted their expense claims and then they were imbursed

360
00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:02,680
Speaker 2: for their train fare, with their hotels and taxis, etc.

361
00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:06,679
Speaker 2: So that is it in a nutshell.

362
00:23:08,680 --> 00:23:11,919
Speaker 4: But in October twenty twenty, the first crack in that

363
00:23:12,040 --> 00:23:15,399
Speaker 4: shell appeared. One of the cash mules was stopped at

364
00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:20,680
Speaker 4: Heathrow Airport. Thirty year old recruitment consultant Tarba Handlon.

365
00:23:21,640 --> 00:23:23,440
Speaker 2: By her own account. She was currently out of work

366
00:23:23,520 --> 00:23:28,040
Speaker 2: due to COVID, nothing to suggest that she was linked

367
00:23:28,040 --> 00:23:30,119
Speaker 2: to crime in any way, shape or form, had no

368
00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:34,000
Speaker 2: criminal record. She was asked some standard questions, do you

369
00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:37,439
Speaker 2: have any cash? She initially denied it. They decided to

370
00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:40,600
Speaker 2: call her suitcases up because something didn't quite hang right.

371
00:23:40,720 --> 00:23:42,920
Speaker 2: You've got five cases, you're only going for a weekend.

372
00:23:43,160 --> 00:23:44,000
Speaker 2: There's only two of you.

373
00:23:46,320 --> 00:23:50,919
Speaker 4: Inside one of Tarba Hanland's suitcases, officials found one point

374
00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:55,280
Speaker 4: nine million pounds vacuum packed and hidden with coffee in

375
00:23:55,359 --> 00:23:57,760
Speaker 4: an apparent attempt to ward off sniffer dogs.

376
00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:02,679
Speaker 2: On top Corra's phone there was a copy of a

377
00:24:02,800 --> 00:24:06,359
Speaker 2: letter from a company called omnive Escu Limited. Now that

378
00:24:06,520 --> 00:24:09,760
Speaker 2: letter was used to provide, if you're like, some form

379
00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:12,720
Speaker 2: of cover, primarily for the Dubai customs, because nothing ever

380
00:24:12,720 --> 00:24:16,880
Speaker 2: got declared in the UK. And that signatory turtle letter

381
00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:18,399
Speaker 2: is Abdullah al Faallesse.

382
00:24:22,280 --> 00:24:26,720
Speaker 4: There's that name again, Abdullah al Fallaci. Ian's team began

383
00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:30,439
Speaker 4: an investigation and we're able to establish Al Fallassi was

384
00:24:30,440 --> 00:24:34,159
Speaker 4: an Emorati national who spent his time between Dubai and

385
00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:38,080
Speaker 4: the UK. His wife's family had a flat in Belgravia.

386
00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:42,960
Speaker 4: In London's West End. After Tara Handlan was arrested, Ian's

387
00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:45,640
Speaker 4: team kept a close eye on him.

388
00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:49,640
Speaker 2: We were just very fortunate. And that's the only way

389
00:24:49,640 --> 00:24:52,119
Speaker 2: I can put it that mister l Fallaci decided to

390
00:24:52,119 --> 00:24:55,199
Speaker 2: come to the UK, because that's what really broke the

391
00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:58,359
Speaker 2: case for us. His arrest and examination of the content

392
00:24:58,400 --> 00:25:01,600
Speaker 2: of his phone just revealed the hoole modus operandi.

393
00:25:02,600 --> 00:25:04,200
Speaker 4: So what did you see on the phone.

394
00:25:05,200 --> 00:25:10,639
Speaker 2: There were many, many, many hundreds of WhatsApp threads, so

395
00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:14,680
Speaker 2: it was him booking travel tickets, him receiving images of passports,

396
00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:18,320
Speaker 2: fining details of the flights, when they traveled, who they

397
00:25:18,359 --> 00:25:20,240
Speaker 2: traveled with, what luggage they'd taken.

398
00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:24,720
Speaker 4: I mean, that's an extraordinary treasure trove for an investigator

399
00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:25,600
Speaker 4: to have as.

400
00:25:25,560 --> 00:25:28,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, incredibly rare. It was a bit of an oh

401
00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:30,440
Speaker 2: my god moment. There is so much data on this

402
00:25:30,560 --> 00:25:31,840
Speaker 2: phone you just don't see it.

403
00:25:32,080 --> 00:25:35,080
Speaker 4: And just on al Falaci himself, could you talk a

404
00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:37,800
Speaker 4: bit about what he was like and his lifestyle and

405
00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:39,440
Speaker 4: who he was and his background.

406
00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:41,760
Speaker 2: From what I've seen, he had a very good lifestyle,

407
00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:45,680
Speaker 2: expensive watches, nice places to live. He certainly had a

408
00:25:45,800 --> 00:25:47,760
Speaker 2: top of arrange Mercedes at the top of my head,

409
00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:51,440
Speaker 2: traveled a lot, had use of his wife's families flat

410
00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:53,920
Speaker 2: in London. He's got no criminal record. He's not known

411
00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:56,320
Speaker 2: to law enforcement anywhere in the world prior to this,

412
00:25:56,720 --> 00:25:58,600
Speaker 2: So you know he had all of the front of

413
00:25:59,040 --> 00:26:00,840
Speaker 2: a successful religion businessman.

414
00:26:01,760 --> 00:26:03,240
Speaker 4: What do you know about his family?

415
00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:06,320
Speaker 2: Not an awful lot. I do understand that his wife

416
00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:09,399
Speaker 2: is a member of a pretty wealthy family in the UAE.

417
00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:13,120
Speaker 2: One of those strange things. He did appear to have

418
00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:18,399
Speaker 2: access to legitimate wealth. So what put him into this position?

419
00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:21,840
Speaker 4: I do not know. A bill of al Fhaalasei was

420
00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:26,119
Speaker 4: arrested in December twenty twenty one and charged with coordinating

421
00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:30,480
Speaker 4: the Sunshining lollipops network. By the time it went to court,

422
00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:33,679
Speaker 4: it's estimated that the group smuggled up to one hundred

423
00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:37,640
Speaker 4: and ten million pounds out of the UK. That's over

424
00:26:37,720 --> 00:26:40,879
Speaker 4: two hundred million Aussie dollars or nearly one hundred and

425
00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:45,640
Speaker 4: forty million US dollars. Al Fallasse was considered the ring

426
00:26:45,760 --> 00:26:49,200
Speaker 4: leader and admitted money laundering in July twenty twenty two,

427
00:26:50,080 --> 00:26:53,879
Speaker 4: aged forty seven. He was sentenced to nine years in jail.

428
00:26:54,680 --> 00:26:57,760
Speaker 4: It's difficult to know exactly how big a slice of

429
00:26:57,800 --> 00:27:00,359
Speaker 4: the one hundred and ten million smuggled out of the

430
00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:05,200
Speaker 4: UK was cocaine revenue, but Ian does believe that most

431
00:27:05,280 --> 00:27:07,320
Speaker 4: of the money came from drug dealing.

432
00:27:08,359 --> 00:27:11,200
Speaker 2: So I've got my two hundred grand from this week's

433
00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:14,680
Speaker 2: drugs deals, I make contact with somebody, say I've got

434
00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:17,560
Speaker 2: two hundred grand, and they will say meet my person

435
00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:21,680
Speaker 2: at this location. The cash is handed over. The cash

436
00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:24,480
Speaker 2: is then taken to accounting house for want of better expression,

437
00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:27,520
Speaker 2: which has changed almost daily from what I can see

438
00:27:27,560 --> 00:27:31,320
Speaker 2: from what we've identified. In this case, that cash is

439
00:27:31,359 --> 00:27:34,280
Speaker 2: then consolidated with all the other cash that the group

440
00:27:34,280 --> 00:27:38,119
Speaker 2: has collected in from a variety of criminal networks, packaged

441
00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:42,800
Speaker 2: and then sent on its way. So you've got the collectors,

442
00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:46,200
Speaker 2: you've got the consolidators, and then you've got the couriers

443
00:27:46,320 --> 00:27:48,440
Speaker 2: and the people that have got control of the couriers.

444
00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:53,840
Speaker 4: By couriers, Ian is referring to people like Franchasca. They're

445
00:27:53,920 --> 00:27:58,080
Speaker 4: one part of a wider multi level operation set up

446
00:27:58,119 --> 00:28:02,240
Speaker 4: to service organized crime. Think of them as the white

447
00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:05,840
Speaker 4: collar part of the business. The collectors pick up cash

448
00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:09,280
Speaker 4: from different criminal gangs. They take it to a central

449
00:28:09,359 --> 00:28:14,240
Speaker 4: point the counting house where Itch checked. Someone somewhere is

450
00:28:14,359 --> 00:28:17,320
Speaker 4: keeping the accounts so they know how much is owed

451
00:28:17,560 --> 00:28:21,520
Speaker 4: to which people. So where in that operation did al

452
00:28:21,600 --> 00:28:22,440
Speaker 4: Fallassi sit.

453
00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:27,920
Speaker 2: There are clearly others involved who we haven't positively identified.

454
00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:30,639
Speaker 2: He is near the top of the tree, but I

455
00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:33,439
Speaker 2: couldn't comment that he is definitely at the top. But

456
00:28:33,560 --> 00:28:36,680
Speaker 2: he is a leading light in what was going.

457
00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:42,440
Speaker 4: On, a leading light, but not the big boss. Instead,

458
00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:46,800
Speaker 4: think of our Fallacie as the department manager. The authorities

459
00:28:46,800 --> 00:28:50,680
Speaker 4: believe that he delegated recruitment and day to day management

460
00:28:50,720 --> 00:28:54,960
Speaker 4: of the cash mules to team leaders. Throughout twenty twenty one,

461
00:28:55,320 --> 00:28:58,880
Speaker 4: the National Crime Agency linked several people to the smuggling

462
00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:03,960
Speaker 4: network conversation gating their phones. By analyzing these, they discovered

463
00:29:03,960 --> 00:29:07,680
Speaker 4: the mules as people like Francesca, would be organized into

464
00:29:07,680 --> 00:29:12,120
Speaker 4: different WhatsApp groups, each with a team leader. The team

465
00:29:12,200 --> 00:29:16,000
Speaker 4: leader would arrange their travel and expenses, then submit these

466
00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:21,000
Speaker 4: claims to the manager Alpha Lasse. Francesca, as a low

467
00:29:21,120 --> 00:29:24,720
Speaker 4: level employee, would never have dealt with what Ian calls

468
00:29:24,760 --> 00:29:28,800
Speaker 4: a collector or a consolidator, or anyone else involved in

469
00:29:28,840 --> 00:29:32,760
Speaker 4: the business apart from her team leader. This had one

470
00:29:32,800 --> 00:29:35,800
Speaker 4: advantage in that it meant if any of the cash

471
00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:38,920
Speaker 4: mules got busted, there was only so much they could

472
00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:42,120
Speaker 4: tell the police. It also meant that the higher up

473
00:29:42,120 --> 00:29:45,080
Speaker 4: and the business you were, the further you were from

474
00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:48,120
Speaker 4: the actual drug dealing that generated the money in the

475
00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:52,080
Speaker 4: first place, and which always attracts the attention of the law.

476
00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:59,240
Speaker 2: The controllers, unfortunately, are not in the country where the

477
00:29:59,280 --> 00:30:02,920
Speaker 2: crime that's in this cash is being committed, and in

478
00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:05,240
Speaker 2: this day and age, through digital communication, you can do

479
00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:06,000
Speaker 2: this from anywhere.

480
00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:10,760
Speaker 4: Another aspect of the sunshine the Lollipops operation that allowed

481
00:30:10,800 --> 00:30:14,000
Speaker 4: it to run smoothly was the faith they placed in

482
00:30:14,040 --> 00:30:14,480
Speaker 4: each other.

483
00:30:15,880 --> 00:30:18,160
Speaker 2: You know, Hollywood and TV has got us. You know,

484
00:30:18,200 --> 00:30:20,760
Speaker 2: no criminal trust one another. There's all this rivalry and

485
00:30:20,840 --> 00:30:23,800
Speaker 2: all this bullshit that goes on, but there was a

486
00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:26,920
Speaker 2: huge element of trust just to hand these bags of

487
00:30:26,960 --> 00:30:30,960
Speaker 2: cash over, and where there were shortcomings or concerns about

488
00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:33,160
Speaker 2: what had been received as opposed to what was expected

489
00:30:33,200 --> 00:30:35,959
Speaker 2: to be received, it was all dealt with very calmly

490
00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:38,440
Speaker 2: and very professionally.

491
00:30:38,680 --> 00:30:42,360
Speaker 4: And that was actually part of the operation's success. The

492
00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:45,840
Speaker 4: cash mules, the people who are most likely to be arrested,

493
00:30:46,120 --> 00:30:50,320
Speaker 4: were just normal previously law abiding with ordinary jobs.

494
00:30:51,320 --> 00:30:52,960
Speaker 2: The last thing you want to do is when you're

495
00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:55,480
Speaker 2: moving your money is draw attention to it by getting

496
00:30:55,480 --> 00:30:57,440
Speaker 2: someone with a bit of forum to move it for you.

497
00:30:57,680 --> 00:31:00,600
Speaker 2: I mean, that just makes perfect logical sense. And it

498
00:31:00,880 --> 00:31:03,480
Speaker 2: also probably explains why they were paid so much, because

499
00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:07,040
Speaker 2: you're asking people who have been criminally involved before to

500
00:31:07,080 --> 00:31:10,320
Speaker 2: take a bit of a risk. So you know, three

501
00:31:10,360 --> 00:31:12,160
Speaker 2: ground for two days work isn't bad, is it? And

502
00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:15,440
Speaker 2: you can see the temptation, the business like approach to

503
00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:17,840
Speaker 2: it all. I don't think that's the shocking thing. Is

504
00:31:17,960 --> 00:31:20,120
Speaker 2: serious crime, but it's just a date jub to these people.

505
00:31:26,960 --> 00:31:30,600
Speaker 3: At the time, I didn't see it like I'm robbing

506
00:31:30,640 --> 00:31:34,040
Speaker 3: a post office and that little old lady that works

507
00:31:34,080 --> 00:31:36,320
Speaker 3: in the post office is now terrified for the rest

508
00:31:36,320 --> 00:31:40,720
Speaker 3: of her life. But I've thought about it now. I've

509
00:31:40,720 --> 00:31:46,800
Speaker 3: thought about nothing else for three years. It's terrifying. I

510
00:31:46,880 --> 00:31:50,200
Speaker 3: didn't even realize that my story was connected to cocaine.

511
00:31:50,760 --> 00:31:53,320
Speaker 3: But you know that's how father each is.

512
00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:57,560
Speaker 4: For her role as a cash meal in the Sunshine

513
00:31:57,560 --> 00:32:01,440
Speaker 4: and Lollipops gang, Franchasca was rested and charged.

514
00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:09,160
Speaker 3: I was suicidal At one point. I thought about taking

515
00:32:09,160 --> 00:32:11,520
Speaker 3: my own life at least three times.

516
00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:12,040
Speaker 4: Shit.

517
00:32:13,480 --> 00:32:16,680
Speaker 3: The night before I first went into court, I was

518
00:32:16,680 --> 00:32:19,720
Speaker 3: in a hotel room and I didn't have one ounce

519
00:32:19,760 --> 00:32:22,760
Speaker 3: to sleep, and I got in the bath and I

520
00:32:22,800 --> 00:32:26,760
Speaker 3: was drinking this glass of red wine, and I was

521
00:32:26,880 --> 00:32:32,640
Speaker 3: so close to killing myself that night. I just couldn't

522
00:32:32,680 --> 00:32:36,920
Speaker 3: stand just thinking about it anymore, thinking I was going

523
00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:39,440
Speaker 3: to be plastered all over the papers, and that my

524
00:32:39,520 --> 00:32:42,400
Speaker 3: business was going to be ruined and everything else that

525
00:32:42,440 --> 00:32:44,480
Speaker 3: came with it, And.

526
00:32:44,640 --> 00:32:46,520
Speaker 4: What stopped you from doing that?

527
00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:50,760
Speaker 3: My son and just putting him through the hell of

528
00:32:51,240 --> 00:32:54,840
Speaker 3: having to lose me. But it was the worst thing

529
00:32:55,200 --> 00:32:59,880
Speaker 3: that I've ever experienced in my life.

530
00:33:00,280 --> 00:33:03,440
Speaker 4: You were part of a group that smuggled one hundred

531
00:33:03,480 --> 00:33:07,400
Speaker 4: million pounds out of the UK. How do you reflect

532
00:33:07,840 --> 00:33:12,880
Speaker 4: on that and moving that amount of money?

533
00:33:14,360 --> 00:33:18,680
Speaker 3: I am genuinely sorry. If I could turn the clock back,

534
00:33:19,960 --> 00:33:21,000
Speaker 3: I definitely would.

535
00:33:23,760 --> 00:33:27,880
Speaker 4: Francesca was ultimately convicted for her part in the international

536
00:33:27,920 --> 00:33:32,160
Speaker 4: crime group. Samuels served jail time, while others were given

537
00:33:32,200 --> 00:33:38,240
Speaker 4: suspended sentences. Earlier this year, assets seized from Abdullah Alphaalase

538
00:33:38,400 --> 00:33:43,680
Speaker 4: included savings and investments in Emiralati banks, properties in the

539
00:33:43,760 --> 00:33:50,200
Speaker 4: UAE cryptocurrency funds, luxury cars, as well as three rolexes

540
00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:55,280
Speaker 4: and a Patech Filipe watch Alpha. Lasse has been ordered

541
00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:58,920
Speaker 4: to pay nearly three and a half million pounds to

542
00:33:58,960 --> 00:34:04,000
Speaker 4: the British courts. That's the amount authorities think he personally

543
00:34:04,040 --> 00:34:07,600
Speaker 4: benefited from the scheme. But it's just a tiny slice

544
00:34:07,720 --> 00:34:10,480
Speaker 4: of the smuggling operation he helped orchestrate.

545
00:34:11,880 --> 00:34:15,000
Speaker 2: We can literally just account for the cash that we seized.

546
00:34:16,480 --> 00:34:19,600
Speaker 2: We got one point nine one point four and four hundred.

547
00:34:19,640 --> 00:34:22,560
Speaker 2: What does it add up to It's part a five million.

548
00:34:23,360 --> 00:34:26,799
Speaker 4: What do you make of the fact that so much

549
00:34:26,840 --> 00:34:30,560
Speaker 4: money was going through the customs office at Dubai? Wasn't

550
00:34:30,600 --> 00:34:35,520
Speaker 4: it were the customs office is of any suspicion that

551
00:34:35,560 --> 00:34:39,000
Speaker 4: they were in on it or is it just that

552
00:34:39,200 --> 00:34:42,400
Speaker 4: they're used to seeing that amount of money move through?

553
00:34:43,440 --> 00:34:47,319
Speaker 2: The cash declaration rules in the UE slash Dubai are

554
00:34:47,360 --> 00:34:51,160
Speaker 2: different to the UK and Europe. You have to declare

555
00:34:51,200 --> 00:34:53,879
Speaker 2: it otherwise there is a penalty. But it does state

556
00:34:53,960 --> 00:34:57,279
Speaker 2: clearly on their declaration form the data is captured for

557
00:34:57,360 --> 00:35:03,840
Speaker 2: statistical purposes. Now I don't know why that wouldn't necessarily

558
00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:08,240
Speaker 2: generate some kind of investigation, but it doesn't, and it hasn't,

559
00:35:09,080 --> 00:35:12,200
Speaker 2: so that's not something I can really comment on.

560
00:35:13,880 --> 00:35:16,839
Speaker 4: I asked authorities in the UAE why the eighty three

561
00:35:16,880 --> 00:35:20,160
Speaker 4: trips made by the Sunshine and Lollipops gang didn't raise

562
00:35:20,200 --> 00:35:23,040
Speaker 4: any suspicions. They didn't get back to me on that

563
00:35:23,120 --> 00:35:27,360
Speaker 4: specific point. However, an official did tell me the UAE

564
00:35:27,560 --> 00:35:30,560
Speaker 4: takes its role in protecting the integrity of the global

565
00:35:30,640 --> 00:35:36,520
Speaker 4: financial system extremely seriously. They also added they work closely

566
00:35:36,600 --> 00:35:40,880
Speaker 4: with international partners to disrupt and deter all forms of

567
00:35:40,920 --> 00:35:46,279
Speaker 4: illicit finance. When the money obviously goes off in the

568
00:35:46,320 --> 00:35:50,239
Speaker 4: suitcases and it leaves Dubai airport, where does it go

569
00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:51,480
Speaker 4: after that?

570
00:35:51,800 --> 00:35:54,360
Speaker 2: We haven't got a lot of information about that, but

571
00:35:54,480 --> 00:35:58,120
Speaker 2: it does appear that an element of it was changed

572
00:35:58,160 --> 00:36:01,200
Speaker 2: into dereham so the local currency. A lot of it

573
00:36:01,239 --> 00:36:03,279
Speaker 2: was turned into physical dirhams, and then it was used

574
00:36:03,280 --> 00:36:06,239
Speaker 2: for something or it went somewhere else. I don't know.

575
00:36:06,680 --> 00:36:10,000
Speaker 2: We haven't got beyond that next stage.

576
00:36:12,719 --> 00:36:16,520
Speaker 4: So what is the next stage? All we have so

577
00:36:16,800 --> 00:36:20,840
Speaker 4: far is Abdullah al Falas's name on a letter handed

578
00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:23,680
Speaker 4: to the cash mules saying the money they were carrying

579
00:36:23,960 --> 00:36:28,120
Speaker 4: was for Dubai based business called Omnives Gold trading and

580
00:36:28,200 --> 00:36:31,680
Speaker 4: if that money was drug money as Ian suspects. I

581
00:36:31,760 --> 00:36:36,080
Speaker 4: only really have one option to go to Dubai myself.

582
00:36:37,840 --> 00:36:44,600
Speaker 4: So I'm knocking on a door. It's got no sign whatsoever. Hi.

583
00:36:45,719 --> 00:36:47,839
Speaker 4: So to show you we're looking for omnives the goal

584
00:36:47,880 --> 00:36:55,319
Speaker 4: into trading and investigate what happened to the rest of

585
00:36:55,360 --> 00:36:58,040
Speaker 4: that one hundred and ten pounds.

586
00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:00,480
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm just opening that art.

587
00:37:00,719 --> 00:37:03,759
Speaker 4: He looks a lot younger than his police mug shot. Yeah,

588
00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:05,160
Speaker 4: but that is Abdullah al Falasse.

589
00:37:05,680 --> 00:37:06,560
Speaker 1: It's clearly him.

590
00:37:06,800 --> 00:37:11,560
Speaker 4: It's clearly him. That's all next time on Cocaine Inc.

591
00:37:19,640 --> 00:37:23,000
Speaker 1: Cocaine Inc. Is a joint investigation from The Times, The

592
00:37:23,080 --> 00:37:27,880
Speaker 1: Sunday Times and News Corp Australia. The reporters are David Collins,

593
00:37:28,080 --> 00:37:32,719
Speaker 1: Stephen Drill and me Fiona Hamilton. The series is produced

594
00:37:32,840 --> 00:37:37,680
Speaker 1: by Sam Chanterassak. The executive producers are Will Row and

595
00:37:37,760 --> 00:37:41,960
Speaker 1: Dan Box. Audio production and editing is by Jasper Leak,

596
00:37:42,400 --> 00:37:47,120
Speaker 1: with original music by Tom Burchill. Additional production support on

597
00:37:47,200 --> 00:37:52,000
Speaker 1: this episode from Sharonhissein and Francesca was voiced by Liz

598
00:37:52,040 --> 00:37:55,239
Speaker 1: Fletcher and if you want to get in touch with

599
00:37:55,280 --> 00:37:58,960
Speaker 1: any questions or thoughts on the series Email Cocaine Inc.

600
00:37:59,360 --> 00:38:02,840
Speaker 1: At the time, dot co, dot uk, h