Once they arrived in Dubai, they would use a company set up by Alfalasi called Omnivest Gold Trading to cover the cash declarations and just days later would return to the UK with empty bags.
Just a month later, Czech national Zdenek Kamaryt, 39, was held as he tried to board a flight from Heathrow to Dubai with £1.3m of cash in his bags. One, Nicola Esson, 55, from Leeds, checked in 19 suitcases on three visits in August and September 2020, declaring a total of £6.4m.Muhammed Geyas Ilyas, 29, from Slough, took a total of £2.5m in two trips and was arrested off a flight back to Heathrow in February 2020 after Border Force officers found a bag that had gone missing at the airport containing £431,000 in cash.