Cocaine gangs' cash network smashed

A multi-million pound money laundering syndicate with links to Colombian drugs cartels was smashed in London last night.

In a huge operation led by Customs investigators, armed police raided more than a dozen homes and businesses across the capital, arresting 18 people and seizing more than £1 million.

Officers also seized large hauls of cocaine and crack.

The raids, which involved more than 100 officers from the National Crime Squad and the Met's specialist firearms unit, followed months of undercover surveillance.

The target was a sophisticated ring of money launderers who used backstreet bureaux de change in London to recycle the profits of several major drug gangs. Police raided addresses from west London to Ilford in the east.

A source close to the operation said: "These bureaux de change were acting on a behalf of a number of gangs operating in London. The dirty money was cleaned and handed back to them, usually in another currency to try to avoid detection.

"This was a significant operation which had links with Colombia. We know we are hurting them, not just in London but in Colombia too."

The 17 men and one woman under arrest are understood to be British, Colombian and other nationalities. They are being questioned today and charges are expected later.

Colombia is the world's biggest exporter of cocaine, and its criminals are increasingly turning to Europe as smuggling routes into America are closed by the US authorities as part of President Bush's "war on narcotics".

In Colombia, where the economy is in ruins, cocaine costs about £2,000 a kilo, but once it reaches Britain it can be sold for up to £30,000.

The scale of the South American cocaine trade in London was revealed last month at the trial of 13 members of a syndicate which laundered £50 million in profits in three years.

The gang, including six Colombians, five British nationals, a Thai and an Ecuadorean, laundered the cash through four bureaux de change in London. One small bureau in Bayswater handled nearly £20 million. The money was collected from cocaine dealers and changed from sterling into US dollars to be sent back to gang bosses in Bogota. Members of the gang were jailed for up to eight years.