Gucci gear, bling, and £200k cars - inside the luxury lifestyles of criminal gangs

Luxury cars, Gucci clothes, and wads of cash.

Criminal gangs have a taste for the finer things in life and even after they've been locked up in prison, police have a job on their hands retrieving millions of pounds worth of ill-gotten gains.

Take 'The Company' for example. Last month the final seven of the 15-strong gang were jailed for their part in an international car theft ring. It came four years after police had first carried out raids.

The Oldham-based firm had hit on a way of making millions from stealing high-end cars to order and sending then abroad. Others were stripped in one of seven chop shops across Greater Manchester and the parts sold.

Read more: They posed as Manchester Airport valets, cruised estates and left families terrified - inside 'the Company'

From February 2019 to January 2021 the gang stole 90 vehicles amounting to an overall loss of £3m. Land Rovers and Range Rovers were shipped to Dubai and Turkey.

But in the aftermath of the seven being sentenced Detective Chief Inspector, Roger Smethurst, indicated the police still had work to do. Jail sentences were not the only punishment. A sting in the tail of the judicial system awaits some of the gang.

That's where Operation Falcon comes in - a GMP taskforce dedicated to clawing back millions of pounds from criminals.

DCI Smethurst told the M.E.N: "When we start to look at Proceeds of Crime hearings they will become a big issue in this case. We are looking at hundreds of thousands of pounds that we are seeking to recover. Various members (of the OCG) have looked to invest in property, and family members who have no other source of income. The only way it would appear this money has been generated is through this gang."

The gang can expect to be in the sights of GMP's Operation Falcon. Launched in May 2022, the force's Economic Crime Unit, Serious and Organised Crime Group, Specialist Operations and intelligence officers work towards one aim - removing funds from criminal networks.

Since the creation of the operation, officers have clawed back criminal money which has then been used to fund community initiatives and policing operations.

Money laundering is funnelling criminal proceeds into "legitimate" funds through businesses, bank accounts and even moving the money abroad. It costs the UK economy billions of pounds a year. In the last two years, the team have recovered a total of £30m. In the last financial year, teams in the Economic Crime Unit have recovered £15.1m of criminal money. For the year 2022/23 it was £15.7m.

Police were able to put a dent in criminals' finances by seizing high value items such as cars, designer clothing, jewellery and artwork, but Operation Falcon is all about following the money.

An account freezing order team has targeted criminals' bank accounts. They were the first in the UK to use forfeiture legislation to forfeit money from bank accounts if money is believed to have come from the profits of crime.

The Asset Detention and Recovery Unit investigate all assets and cash that have been seized under the Proceeds of Crime by officers on all districts across Greater Manchester including the Money Laundering Team. They look into where the money has come, and if this is criminal, but also its intended use before presenting this to court so the team can recover the finances.

The Restraint and Confiscation team primarily target assets that are suspected to be owned or controlled by criminals.

But in addition, the force has seized more than £2m in hard cash when it is being transported for money laundering purposes on roads across the region or hidden in homes.

There have been spectacular successes when the Tactical Vehicle Intercept Unit has stopped suspect cars. In Bolton, a driver, and sole occupant of a Mercedes C220 was stopped near Westhoughton.

In the boot were five cardboard boxes containing a large amount of cash, bundled up. In total there was £202,611.

A Mercedes GLC was stopped by officers from the Roads Policing Unit in Salford. The vehicle was searched under the Proceeds of Crime Act and a large quantity of cash was found in two cardboard boxes in the rear of the vehicle - £228,682 in total. Two men in the vehicle, were arrested on suspicion of money laundering.

At Piccadilly train station two men stopped by Economic Crime Unit staff were searched after boarding a train about to depart to Birmingham. One man was sat next to a black Louis Vuitton black bag and inside were bundles of mainly £20 notes, amounting to just under £23,000. Both men were then arrested on suspicion on money laundering.

In Cheetham Hill police searched office premises in a bid to find a suspect and found £95,500 in an Asda bag.

Detective Superintendent Joe Harrop head of GMP’s Serious and Organised Crime and Lead for Operation Falcon, said: “If we stop the right criminals in the right cars, there is a high likelihood that they will be transporting cash.

“The operation has been successful because we use officers and police staff with different skillsets. We have officers that can develop intelligence and then our specialist driving capabilities in our Tactical Vehicle Intercept Unit who are utilised to stop criminals in their tracks. The cases are then sent to experts in our Asset Detention and Recovery Unit to then prove the money has been acquired by illicit means, and then we can ultimately recover that cash in the courts.

“Money laundering is a factor in every single crime type, and it is a means to generate an income to further their criminality. It is important to recognise that those criminals that are operating at this level and moving large sums of cash are the criminals who are blighting our communities the most, and removing their funds means we are ultimately making Greater Manchester a safer place to live work and visit.

“We will continue this momentum by continuing to tackle criminal finance, and if you’re operating in Greater Manchester and you’re generating money from crime - we will come and get it off you and then reinvest it back into our community.”

The downfall of 'The Company'

In January 2022, six men were sentenced in connection with the conspiracy.

• Asif Hussain, then 44, of Tonge Moor Road, Bolton, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal, conspiracy to handle stolen goods, conspiracy to export and fraud. He was jailed for 15 years.
• Hadir Ali, then 27, of Lee Street, Oldham, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to handle stolen goods and conspiracy to export. He was jailed for 11 years.
• Saijid Jangharia, then 37, of Willows Lane, Bolton, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal and conspiracy to export. He was jailed for ten years.
• Ibraaz Shafique, then 23, of Camberwell Street, Oldham, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to handle stolen goods, conspiracy to export and fraud. He was jailed for five years.
• Tayub Hasnain, then 37, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal and conspiracy to handle stolen goods and was jailed for five years and six months.
• Mohammed Abdullah, then 23, of Lee Street, Oldham, received a two year suspended prison sentence after admitting conspiracy to handle stolen goods.

At the end of October, a further seven men were sentenced.

• Asif Matadar, 39, of Melbourne Road, Bolton, pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal. He was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison.
• Shewaz Rehman, 29, of Hereford Street, Oldham, pleaded guilty to conspiring to handle stolen goods and a separate count of controlling and coercive behaviour committed against his wife. He was jailed for a total of four years and nine months.
• Imran Taj, 43, of Malvern Road, Oldham, pleaded guilty to conspiring to handle stolen goods. He was jailed for four years.
• Zeeshan Ali, 34, of Ennerdale Terrance, Tameside, pleaded guilty to conspiring to handle stolen goods. He was jailed for three years and nine months.
• Adam Elwood, 30, of Kingston Avenue, Chadderton, pleaded guilty conspiring to handle stolen goods, handling stolen goods, possession with intent to supply a class B drug, possession of cocaine, dangerous driving and possession of cannabis. He was sentenced to six years in prison.
• Mohammed Irfan, 26, of Malvern Street, Oldham, pleaded guilty to conspiring to handle stolen goods. He was jailed for three years.
• James Hopkinson, 29, of Seatoller Court, Oldham, pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods. He was sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for a year, and was ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work and 15 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

Anyone with information about suspicious financial activity can report it online via a reporting form, or by calling 101. You can also report via our Live Chat service on our website: www.gmp.police.uk

Details can also be passed anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.