Money-laundering kingpin who hired mules including Joe Calzaghe’s model ex and a Kim Kardashian lookalike to smuggle £104m of criminal cash from UK to Dubai must pay back £3.5m or get another 10 years in jail

Abdullah Alfalasi, 48, ran an army of cash mules to transport money in suitcases 

A money laundering kingpin who used a Kim Kardashian lookalike to smuggle vast amounts of cash between the UK and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been ordered to pay back £3.5million or face another 10 years in jail.

Abdullah Alfalasi, 48, ran an army of cash mules who transported money in suitcases packed with coffee granules and air fresheners to avoid detection by airport sniffer dogs.

National Crime Agency (NCA) investigators found couriers took £104million out of the country on 83 Emirates flights from London Heathrow to the UAE.

Alfalasi, originally from Dubai, was arrested in December 2021 at an apartment in Lowndes Square, Belgravia, where three-bed properties sell for more than £11million.

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Abdullah Alfalasi, 48, (pictured) ran an army of cash mules who transported money in suitcases

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Money seized during the smuggling operation. Alfalasi must pay back a further £3.5million

He admitted removing criminal cash from the UK between April 3 2019 and November 3 2020 and was jailed for more than nine years in July 2022.

Alfalasi returned to Isleworth Crown Court where a judge made a confiscation order against him for £3,496,778.

He must pay the sum in three months, or serve 10 years consecutive in default.

Adrian Foster, CPS Chief Crown Prosecutor, said: ‘We have worked hard to obtain a Confiscation Order, which covers all of Alfalasi’s current available assets, to ensure that he does not financially benefit from this crime in what was one of the largest money laundering operations ever run from the UK.

‘Should we subsequently discover any new assets belonging to him, then we will take him back to court until he has repaid his full criminal benefit.

‘In the last five years, 2018 to 2023, over £480 million has been recovered from CPS obtained Confiscation Orders, ensuring that thousands of convicted criminals cannot profit from their offending. £105m of that amount has been returned to victims of crime, by way of compensation.’

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Tara Hanlon, 32, (pictured) who was jailed for nearly three years in July 2021

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Jo-Emma Larvin, 44, (pictured) who dated Welsh boxing champion Joe Calzaghe for six years, was the most high-profile gang member

NCA senior investigating officer Ian Truby said: ‘This is a fantastic result and shows the extent of the tools at our disposal to pursue serious and organised criminals, denying them the profit of their crimes.

READ MORE: Joe Calzaghe’s glamour model ex-girlfriend is spared jail and walks free from court despite moving suitcases of dirty money from the UK to Dubai in £104m smuggling ring

‘Alfalasi oversaw a criminal network of cash couriers who moved dirty money, the lifeblood of organised crime groups, out of the UK at an unprecedented scale.

‘He now has a clear choice; to pay the money he owes or face more jail time.’

One of Alfalasi’s couriers was Kim Kardashian lookalike Tara Hanlon, 32, who was jailed for nearly three years in July 2021 after she was caught taking nearly £2million from the UK to Dubai.

The recruitment consultant had already smuggled £3.5million in five suitcases on three different trips over a four-month period when Border Force officers stopped her at Heathrow Airport in October 2020.

Jo-Emma Larvin, 44, who dated Welsh boxing champion Joe Calzaghe for six years, was the most high-profile gang member to be convicted of involvement in the massive money laundering plot.

Larvin was given a suspended jail sentence for her role in July 2023.

She made the first trip with Amy Harrison, 28, when they took £2.2m into Dubai in seven suitcases.

Her partner Jonathan Johnson, 55, travelled with her in September 2020 as they carried £2.8m using ordinary holiday items to disguise the cash stashed in eight suitcases.

The English and Scottish banknotes were carried in suitcases checked in as luggage.

Undated handout photo issued by National Crime Agency of some of the money found in the possession of Hanlon when she was stopped at Heathrow Airport

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Pictured: Some of the money found by authorities which was destined for Dubai

Larvin denied any wrongdoing and claimed she believed she was flying out millions of pounds for the UAE Embassy.

The model said when she and her partner took the job it was the ‘worst decision’ of their lives.

Larvin and Johnson, both of Ripon, North Yorks, along with Harrison, of Worcester Park, Surrey, and Beatrice Auty, 26, of Fulham, all denied but were convicted of removing criminal property from the UK by a jury.

Larvin was sentenced to two years in jail, suspended for two years while Johnson received a 12-month sentence suspended for two years.

Harrison was also sentenced to two years in jail, suspended for two years.

Auty was jailed for three and a half years because she had a more serious role stashing the money into suitcases and accompanying couriers to Heathrow.

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Hanlon arrives at Isleworth Crown Court, west London. She was jailed for two years and 10 months after pleading guilty to more than £5million worth of money laundering offences

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Hanlon is the ‘party-loving’ Kim Kardashian wannabe was arrested at Heathrow

She had been recruited into the scheme by married mother-of-two Michelle Clarke, 42, in July 2020.

Tara Hanlon was told to ‘reassure’ Auty, who was then added by Leeds-based mum Clarke to the ‘Sunshine and Lollipops’ WhatsApp group, set up to organise the couriers arriving in Dubai.

Clarke, who is still on the run, urged couriers to use only mobile pay-as-you-go sims and said: ‘Only use these phones for now on and delete everything from your personal phones’.

The NCA released videos taken by Hanlon from her luxurious hotel in Dubai.

She wanders onto the balcony at the £500-a-night Five Palm Jumeirah hotel and says ‘Look at that view’.

Another film taken by Auty shows her laying out huge wads of notes in front of her.

Nicola Esson, 56, of Leeds, earlier admitted the offence and was sentenced to 22 months suspended for 24 months.

Muhammad Ilyas, 30, of Slough, who also admitted removing criminal property was sentenced to 15 months suspended for 24 months.

Last month Samantha Horst, 51, of Staines-upon-Thames, Surrey, yoga instructor Bridget Jane Taylor, 43, of Edinburgh and Craig Bramall, 42, of Wigan, Lancs, were all given suspended jail sentences for money laundering offences.