Police seize Dh25 million in largest-ever single cash bust

London - City police made the bust after noticing a man struggling to carry heavy bags full of money.

Police in London seized £5 million (about Dh25 million) from a man after they noticed him struggling to carry large bags full of money.

According to CNN, officers from the London Metropolitan Police spotted Ruslan Shamsutdinov exiting an address while “noticeably struggling” to load heavy bags into a car parked nearby. Police who stopped him found that the bags were stuffed with a “considerable amount of cash”.

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It was later discovered that the cash was from a money-laundering scheme. More than €39,000 (Dh219,000) and £8,000 (Dh41,000) were found at Shamsutdinov’s home as well.

"As part of a long-running operation against gun crime and large scale Class A drugs supply across London, over five million pounds in criminal cash was seized from an address in Fulham. This is the largest ever single cash seizure by the Met and I believe one of the largest ever nationally," Detective Superintendent Jason Prins from the Specialist Crime Command said in a statement.

Three men — Ruslan Shamsutdinov, Sergejs Auzins and Serwan Ahmadi — were handed jail sentences between one and three years on Friday after pleading guilty to their crimes.

Auzins, according to police, was identified as a large-scale money launderer.

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"Organised crime is motivated by money and is one of the biggest causes of violence on our streets. Tackling this violence is our main priority. This seizure, and the conviction of these men for laundering that money, will have a major impact on the ability of a number of crime groups to carry on with their activities," Prins added.

• UK