Huge money-laundering ring smashed

Dubai: Police have referred more than 40 suspects to the Public Prosecution department on charges of money laundering and aiding and abetting drug trafficking in a police operation dubbed Cancer.

Major Yousuf Al Adidi, an international trainer at Dubai Police's Criminal Investigation Department (CID), said yesterday the exercise was to smash a money-laundering operation which was discovered after tip-offs that an international network was using the UAE as a base for laundering money for drug dealing and other illegal activities.

Major Al Adidi was speaking during a session of the Symposium for Cooperation and Strategic Planning in combating drug-related issues.

He said Dubai Police referred 48 suspects of various nationalities to the Public Prosecution on charges of money laundering and aiding and abetting drug trafficking as part of an international network. The network was smashed after 16 months of continuous monitoring.

Organised crime

Younis Al Mua'alem, Head of the Money Laundering and Crime Department at the CID department for combating organised crimes said the case went back to last year, as the network was using the UAE as a location for its operations, which were confined to a group of companies in the country and abroad to launder money related to organised crime, such as arms dealing, VAT crime and fraud.

He said that four main suspects were managing the network. Al Mua'alem said CID revealed the network was operating worldwide from New Zealand to Argentina. It used bank accounts in the country and elsewhere to pass dirty money from drug dealers to buyers and then transferred the money to various accounts around the world.

He said the network's activity included money laundering from heroin dealing in the Middle East and Iran and cocaine deals in South and Latin America and Europe, some Dh2.4 billion of money laundered related solely to illegal drugs. The network's entire capital was Dh18 billion.

Al Mua'alem said Dubai Police coordinated with foreign law enforcement authorities after compiling information about the network, its location and bank accounts to arrest them.

The operation was hindered when members of the network in a European country were tipped off that an investigation was under way there.

Destroyed

"When the news spread among the network members, they destroyed all the evidence against them and we had to let them leave the country without any action against them," Al Mua'alem said.

Al Mua'alem said Dubai Police carried out numerous procedures such as coordination with the Central Bank after the network members left.

The network members returned to the country after 20 days and resumed their activities. Dubai Police arrested 48 people and seized their computers and documents through which they were able to locate the parties involved in money laundering.

Police then contacted law enforcement authorities in Holland, the US, Australia, Canada and Panama.

Al Mua'alem said the operation resulted in a "tsunami" which revealed many operations, some of which are still under investigation.