Image source, NCA. Dominic Casciani, Home and Legal Correspondent, @BBCDomC. Published 5 hours ago. A significant money laundering operation that emerged during the UK lockdown when gangs faced difficulties in offloading cash has been exposed by the National Crime Agency. This is a major success against money laundering in a decade and has shed light on a Russian-speaking network embedded in the UK's street drugs market.

Exposing the Hidden Thread of Dirty Money

Operation Details and Impact

The global operation based in Moscow was taking dirty money from crime gangs and allowing them to exchange it for untraceable cryptocurrency. It has stretched across 30 countries, and 84 people have been arrested, with 71 in the UK. UK Security Minister Dan Jarvis emphasized the exposure of Russian kleptocrats, drug gangs, and cyber criminals. On Wednesday, the US Treasury sanctioned key figures at the top of the network. Ekaterina Zhdanova, the head of the Moscow-based Smart cryptocurrency network, was identified as being at the heart of the operation and was previously sanctioned by US authorities. Bradley Smith from the US Treasury stated the country's commitment to disrupting Russia's use of digital assets for illicit gains. Rob Jones, director general of operations at the NCA, highlighted that the thread connecting Russian elites, crypto-rich cyber criminals, and UK drugs gangs was previously invisible.This operation not only protected drugs profits from detection but also had a significant impact on the drug trade. During the 2021 pandemic lockdown, drugs gangs across Europe struggled to move cash. The Smart and TGR cryptocurrency networks offered a solution by taking ransomware attack profits and dealing with British drugs networks. In return, they charged commission and laundered the cash through seemingly legitimate businesses.The first clue came when police stopped Fawad Saiedi in 2021, carrying £250,000. He later admitted coordinating the movement of £15.6m of dirty money and was jailed. As the NCA dug deeper, they found connections between people involved in the drugs trade and those in crypto. One group of couriers collected cash from 55 different British locations on behalf of at least 22 gangs. Another UK-based courier network run by Semen Kuksov collected more than £12m in drugs cash in 10 weeks.So far, the NCA and its partners have seized £20m in cash related to an estimated £700m in drugs sales, and most arrests and charges are of couriers like Saiedi and Kuksov. Rob Jones warned that those wanting to move drug money now will think twice due to the increased risks.

Sanctions and Espionage Links

Wednesday's US sanctions targeted the people at the top of the network. The US office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned the head of TGR, Russia-born Ukrainian national George Rossi and his second in command, Elena Chirkinyan. Rossi presented himself as a legitimate businessman in London, but his whereabouts are unknown. The US Treasury said Ekaterina Zhdanova and other TGR network members used cryptocurrency and British financial services to move £2m into the UK to buy property for a Russian national. The NCA has not revealed if it has seized the property.Investigators also found that in 2022, the Russian state used the Smart and TGR crypto-exchange services to move funds for espionage. In 2023, the scheme helped the state-controlled Russia Today media platform move cash into the country for one of its operations.This money laundering operation has exposed the hidden connections and activities of various criminal elements and has significant implications for law enforcement and national security.