LONDON, July 16, 2024
From our Overseas Bureau
An organised criminal gang involving Indian-origin operatives has been busted after a two-year investigation by the United Kingdom’s crime agency, which said it will continue probing their links to “politically exposed individuals overseas”.
National Crime Agency (N.C.A.) said the gang made up of Rickinder Hare, aged 36, Neelen Balarajah, 34 years of age and Hitesh Vadolia, 54-year-old, was responsible for laundering millions in criminal cash and banned class A and B drug-distribution. They were also wanted for the attempted fraudulent acquisition of G.B.P. 1.5 million of government grants.
While Balarajah was sentenced to 13 years and six months imprisonment today, Hare was sentenced to one-year imprisonment, suspended for two years and 400 hours of community service last month. Vadolia, the so-called “cash courier”, faced multiple money laundering charges in connection with the transfers of cash totalling G.B.P. 270,000 but died before trial.
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