A money launderer who tried to fly into Dubai with four cases stuffed with cash will never see the funds again, a UK court has ruled.
Sathar Khan, 35, was jailed for almost four years after officials at London's Stansted Airport found £1.5 million (Dh7.1m) in £10 and £20 notes in four suitcases, together weighing more than 80 kilograms.
He admitted two counts of money laundering at a hearing lat September and received a jail sentence of three years and nine months.
Last week, a forfeiture order, meaning the money will be confiscated, was signed off by Chelmsford Crown Court.
Mr Khan initially denied all knowledge of the cash, after border patrol officials opened the suitcases last August. Further investigations revealed that Mr Khan, from East London, had made several previous trips to Dubai before being arrested.
The seizure was part of an ongoing investigation into a wider criminal network, according to Matt Rivers, a spokesman for the UK National Crime Agency.
He 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.”
After finding the cash at Stansted Airport, Taylor Wilson, assistant director of the Border Force,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.”
