Ripon couple to appear in court after smuggling cash from United Kingdom to Dubai as part of £100 million money laundering network

Jo Emma Larvin and Jonathan Johnson, both of Ripon, along with Amy Liane Harrison of Worcester Park in Surrey, Nicola Esson of Leeds, Muhammad Ilyas of Slough, Stacey Borg of Pudsey, Megan Reeves of Doncaster and Beatrice Auty of south west London are all due to appear at Isleworth Crown Court.

Their network smuggled more than £104 million from the United Kingdom to Dubai during 83 separate trips between November 2019 and October 2020, overseen by ringleader Abdullah Alfalsi, 47, who was jailed for more than nine years 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.

The network they belonged to collected cash from criminal groups around the UK, which was believed to be the profits of drug dealing, and took it to counting houses, usually rented apartments in Central London.

The money was then vacuum packed and separated into suitcases which would typically each contain around £500,000, weighing around 40 kilos.

They were sprayed with coffee or air fresheners in an effort to prevent them being found by Border Force detection dogs.

Larvin and Johnson were both arrested at Manchester Airport in March 2022.