10.07.23 – Second port worker convicted for cocaine haul hidden in bananas. A corrupt port worker involved in importing what he thought was £118m worth of cocaine has been sentenced to 21 years in prison after a National Crime Agency investigation. Michael Jordan, 45, from Portsmouth, worked at the city’s docks and was on shift when 372 pallets of bananas arrived on a cargo vessel called MV Atlantic Klipper. The shipment had originated from Colombia, and the vessel had stopped on its way to the UK at Vlissingen in the Netherlands. NCA officers worked closely with the Dutch police, who found 1,477 kilos of cocaine which was replaced with dummy packages.
10.07.23 – Wiltshire Police seize 100kg of cannabis in single raid. More than 100kg of cannabis has been seized in a single haul in an operation targeting organised crime groups. Wiltshire Police worked with Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and charity Crimestoppers, in Operation Mille. Other forces in the South West were also part of the operation that made 18 arrests and executed warrants and searches in Wiltshire. Wiltshire Police said the 100kg haul included 70kg tracked to a property in Shipley, near Bradford, West Yorkshire. The remaining 30kg was seized at a property in Swindon. Within Wiltshire, nine warrants were conducted, 692 plants seized, 18 arrests made, five people charged and eight people released under investigation. Across the whole of the South West, 67 people were arrested.
12.07.23 – Money laundering cash couriers smuggled millions in suitcases. Six members of a money laundering network which smuggled more than £100m out of the UK to the UAE have been sentenced following an investigation by the National Crime Agency. The network transported the cash to Dubai during 83 separate trips between November 2019 and October 2020, overseen by ringleader Abdullah Alfalasi, 48, who was jailed for more than nine years in July last year. The couriers, who were paid around £3,000 for each trip and would be booked on business class flights due to the extra luggage allowance, communicated on WhatsApp groups, including one titled ’Sunshine and lollipops’.
14.07.23 – China’s Shein hit with RICO, a law used for organised crime. China’s fast-fashion retailer Shein is facing a lawsuit that claims the clothing maker’s copyright infringement is so aggressive that it amounts to racketeering. The filing this week, by three fashion designers in a United States court, claims that Shein is in violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, better known as RICO, a law originally crafted to prosecute organised crime.
14.07.23 – 27 food fraudsters arrested in Lithuania and Italy. A two-part investigation across several EU Member States has unveiled a criminal network who operate by reintroducing expired food into the supply chain. In total, law enforcement officials have arrested 27 criminals responsible for this relatively new criminal practice that jeopardises the health and safety of European consumers. Exploiting vulnerabilities in the supply chain initially induced by the COVID-19 pandemic, the suspects started acquiring immense quantities of expired food and beverages. They would then chemically erase the expiry date printed on the individual items and reprint a new one. In other cases, a whole new label was forged and applied, giving the impression that the packaged food or beverage was still fresh and safe for consumption. Relabelled food and beverages may not only be unenjoyable but even dangerous for human consumption and could pose a serious risk to public health.
