Corrupt check-in attendant helped smuggle £30m out of UK in suitcases

A corrupt Emirates check-in attendant helped a crime gang smuggle almost £30m in cash out of the UK hidden in suitcases.

Emma Rauf, 34, waived couriers through Manchester Airport who stashed money in their clothes, even when they were over their weight limit, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.

Carrying up to five suitcases at a time, they were put up in expensive Dubai hotels and had meals and visits to expensive nightclubs and beach clubs paid for.

An alleged British Dubai-based organiser, who is awaiting extradition to the UK, instructed them to pick up cash from UK-based organised crime groups and fly the money out to the UAE without declaring it.

An investigation was launched after nearly £790,000 in cash was discovered at UK airports in two separate seizures.

Rauf, who herself took seven flights to and from the UAE over seven months, pleaded guilty to being involved in a money laundering scheme to remove cash from the UK to Dubai in March this year.

She and her brother Ben Royle, 32, who are both from Wilmslow, Cheshire, left £406,500 of criminal cash in the boot of her car parked on her parent's drive in Hale, Altrincham.

When a thief broke into the vehicle and stole the money, the pair were made to take lie detector tests by the Dubai 'organiser' to prove they were not responsible.

A gunman later sprayed the empty house with bullets - one of which went through the front door, while several others went through the living room window, hitting the sofa and lodging in the wall.

Royle and Sheikh Jobe, 33, from Manchester, also pleaded guilty to the same charge, while Devanyl Graham, 26, from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire; Sophie Logan, 31; Heather Jeffrey, 58, her children Sheldan Noel, 30, and daughter Lamara Noel, 34, all from Bradford; were found guilty after a trail at Bolton Crown Court.

Jon Hughes, NCA branch commander, said the group "smuggled cash from crime out of the UK on an industrial scale".

"Emma Rauf enabled many of these trips by exploiting her position as an airline employee to waive through suitcases stuffed with money to avoid detection by law enforcement," he said.

"Cash is the lifeblood of organised crime groups. It fuels violence and insecurity around the world.

"Criminals are prepared to unleash violence to maintain control as the horrific shooting at Emma Rauf's family home shows.

"This could have easily led to death or serious injury had someone been there, showing that Rauf and Royle recklessly placed their family in grave danger."

(c) Sky News 2026: Corrupt check-in attendant helped smuggle £30m out of UK in suitcases