A businessman who ran a post office converted it into a front to launder massive sums of criminal money and enjoy a lavish lifestyle, a court heard.
The gang, led by Choudry Yayha and his brother Shahbaz Ali, has now been jailed for more than 26 years.
Police said the money service bureau, which Yahya set up after the post office in Longsight closed, was part of a organised crime group which took in hundreds of thousands of pounds of dirty money before laundering it using sophisticated methods.
GMP said Yahya had a ‘lavish lifestyle’ and was able to pay for members of his family to have a private education.
Officers launched an undercover investigation and found that the conspiracy was based at an industrial unit on Arrow Trading Estate in Audenshaw, east Manchester.
In a dramatic incident, officers had to smash the windows of Yahya’s car after he was stopped by police on Chester Road and locked the doors. They found £250,000 in cash in bin bags on the back seats of the car.
Police also caught another defendant, Abid Hassan, with £300,000 in a holdall in his car. He was also seen to drive a hired car to the unit after being given a large bag from by a known criminal after a meeting at a supermarket in Hyde.
A car linked to the gang was also found in Trafford containing £270,000. During their investigations, police found that the four members of the gang were found with about £818,000 in cash in total. A further £29,604 in cash was recovered from premises linked to the group.
Police said they found significant evidence of money laundering and fraud at the unit, including a handwritten note which listed items of incriminating evidence to be disposed of. They found that SINA Exchange was set up to allow the transfer of funds via money transfers around the world. More than £490,000 was sent to Pakistan, officers discovered. At a Manchester Crown Court sentencing hearing on Friday, Yahya, 49, was jailed for 12 years after being found guilty of money laundering. Ali, 28, received a nine-and-a-half year prison sentence after being found guilty of money laundering and perverting the course of justice.
Boztas, 65, was jailed for two years and eight months after being found guilty of perverting the course of justice, and will be deported after serving his sentence.
Hassan, 49, pleaded guilty to money laundering and was jailed for two years and 11 months.
