Airport check-in worker part of £30m cash smuggling gang

A check-in worker at Manchester Airport was part of a criminal gang that smuggled nearly £30m in cash out of the UK.

Emirates check-in attendant Emma Rauf, 34, abused her position to help couriers pass suitcases containing criminal money on to flights to Dubai, a National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation found.

She pleaded guilty to money laundering offences and was convicted along with seven other people following a trial at Bolton Crown Court.

The offences took place between December 2017 and November 2019 and involved cash being transported on flights departing from Manchester, Birmingham and Brussels airports.

The NCA said couriers carried hundreds of thousands of pounds at a time, concealed in clothing inside suitcases.

Rauf, from Wilmslow, Cheshire, allowed excess baggage containing cash to pass through check-in without proper checks.

When she was not on shift, she contacted colleagues and instructed them to treat excess baggage in the same way, investigators said.

The gang collected criminal cash from across northern England, including Greater Manchester, before transporting it to the United Arab Emirates.

Rauf flew to and from the UAE herself seven times over a period of seven months, reporting into work as being sick.

The investigation was launched after Border Force officers seized almost £800,000 in cash in two separate incidents.

One courier, Sheikh Jobe, 33, from Manchester, was arrested at Manchester Airport in October 2018 after more than £300,000 was found in his luggage, the NCA said.

More than £400,000 was stolen from Rauf's car, which was used by her and her brother, Ben Royle, 32, who was also involved in the smuggling operation.

It had been parked outside their family home in Hale, Greater Manchester.

The property was later targeted in a shooting, although no-one was injured.

Five other defendants were convicted by a jury on 4 June, while Rauf, Royle and Jobe had previously admitted their roles in the smuggling.

All are due to be sentenced at Bolton Crown Court later this year.

NCA branch commander Jon Hughes said the group had operated "on an industrial scale" and exploited airport systems to move large amounts of criminal cash.

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