Woman discovered at UK airport with 15 gold bars

Woman discovered at UK airport with 15 gold bars worth £650K. The gold bars sparked a money laundering probe.
The money laundering probe began after a woman was discovered at Heathrow airport carrying 15 gold bars. The woman had flown in from Singapore and had been heading to Chennai, India. Border Force officials discovered the gold bars worth £650,000 in her hand luggage.
The Singaporean national was then passed over to the police for further investigations. She was caught at Heathrow airport in March 2020 after having arrived from Singapore.
NCA investigators thought that her route via London was strange. She claimed that was delivering the gold bars from a Singapore jeweller to another jeweller in India.
The gold was seized and she was allowed to carry on with her journey. An investigation revealed that the jeweller in India did not exist and that her invoices for the gold were fake.
A two-day hearing was completed on Wednesday, January 26, at the Uxbridge Magistrates court. The gold bars were forfeited under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Andy Noyes NCA Branch Commander explained: “Gold is an attractive commodity for criminals to use to move money because relatively small amounts can have a high value. Our investigation pointed to these gold bars belonging to a criminal money laundering network active in both Europe and Asia.
“We think they were attempting to move them through London to try and disguise their routing, and avoid the attentions of Indian law enforcement upon arrival there.”
He went on to add: “NCA investigators worked with Indian partners to disprove the story given to officers by the woman carrying the gold bars, and show that on the balance of probabilities they were proceeds of crime.
“Working with partners like Border Force we are determined to do all we can to disrupt the flow of illicit money coming through the UK.”

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