UK Man Fleeing to Dubai with £1.5m Cash loses Money

UK man Sathar Khan, aged 35, tried to go to Dubai while carrying a huge sum of cash in his suitcases. He has been told that he will never get the money back.

Khan, who previously claimed he was from Ilford but is now of no fixed address, was caught trying to board a flight to Dubai with £1.5 million in cash.

The money had been split between four suitcases when he checked in at Stansted Airport on August 29, 2018. Each suitcase weighed around 20 kilograms and was stuffed with £10 and £20 notes.

However, Border Patrol officers became suspicious and opened his luggage. When Khan was asked about the money, he denied all knowledge of it.

He claimed to be travelling to visit friends but when he was interviewed by National Crime Agency officers (NCA), they discovered he had made several trips on the same route before.

At Chelmsford Crown Court in September 2018, Khan was jailed for three years and nine months for money laundering.

After the large sum of cash was found, Taylor Wilson, assistant director of the Border Force at Stansted Airport said:

“By making this detection, Border Force officers have taken a substantial quantity of criminal cash out of circulation and ensured it will be returned to the public purse.

“Depriving criminals of their wealth disrupts organised crime and we will continue to work with law enforcement partners like the NCA to both bring offenders to justice and to hit them in the pocket.”

On April 24, 2019, the NCA announced that a forfeiture order calling on Khan to hand over the ill-gotten cash had been approved.

The order was signed off by a judge at Canterbury Crown Court.

The forfeiture order relates to the money NCA officers already seized at the airport. It means that the money will now be given back to the “public purse”.

Matt Rivers, of the NCA, said:

“The forfeiture order demonstrates our determination to remove the proceeds of crime from organised criminals.

“Over the past year, we have investigated cash seizures at UK borders totalling more than £8 million.”

“In this case, with the help of our partners, we were able to intercept the cash during the money laundering process.

“Our investigation continues in relation to the wider criminal network behind this seizure.”

Anyone with information on matters relating to corrupt individuals or money laundering is advised to contact the NCA.

Call 0370 4967 622 which is available 24 hours a day or call 999 in an emergency.