The mega-rich city that replaced Spain as British crooks' best place to hide from justice

View of the Dubai skyline at sunrise from above

Dubai has taken over from Spain as the base for British organised crooks. (Image: Getty)

Dubai is now so tied up in British organised crime, that you are more likely to find crooks hanging out there than the Costa del Sol.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE's) playground city is now not only favoured as a place to launder cash in businesses and property developments but also seen as a fugitive bolthole. Not to mention the perfect place to party and show off your cash.

In the late 1970s, Spain's Costa del Sol became known as the "Costa del Crime" due to the prevalence of British crooks hiding out there, buying up businesses and sunbathing.

In 1978, a century-long extradition treaty expired which meant there was little chance of anyone who was wanted in the UK being sent back from Spain.

The respite only lasted seven years, until 1985, when the extradition treaty was replaced, but by then a host of British crooks had cemented their roots in places like Marbella.

Extraditions between Spain and the UK are now commonplace, but many British crime groups still have strong links in southern Spain.

READ MORE: Rebekah Vardy escapes to Dubai after being hit with £100k bill to Coleen

Dubai Marina district in Dubai, UAE

Dubai has become a playground for the rich, crooks, reality stars and social media influencers. (Image: Getty)

As a destination for crooks, Dubai was unheard of in the 1980s and little known into the 1990s.

But, after the Millennium, construction in the oil-rich city took off, with the construction of the man-made island of Palm Jumeirah starting in 2001.

It suddenly became a new place in the sun for dirty cash to disappear into new business ventures and developments.

Furthermore, there appeared to be a "no questions asked" attitude to incoming cash making it more attractive.

And, until 2008, there was no extradition treaty with the UK, making it a perfect new sunshine destination for our crooks.

Even with the treaty in place, many British criminals feel safe there as, according to sources, purchasing land or businesses in Dubai can prevent your extradition with bribes as another option, due to fears over corruption.

Tara

In 2021 Tara Hanlon from Leeds was jailed for trying to take millions in cash to Dubai. (Image: National Crime Agency)

So many British organised crime groups are now entrenched in Dubai, that it is unusual for the city not to be mentioned during any significant organised crime trial in the UK courts.

This will either be due to a wanted party being thought to be there, or concerning cash movements or property ownership through the UAE.

The Costa del Sol never came up in trials to this extent.

In November 2019 the National Crime Agency (NCA) revealed had arrested 24 people from northern England linked to a gang suspected of smuggling millions of pounds to Dubai in suitcases flown out from the UK.

Operations manager Jon Hughes said at the time: “Border Force did excellent work preventing the money leaving the UK. We have a series of lines of inquiry to pursue and are working effectively with our partners in Dubai police.”

By then, the NCA had also charged 12 people it said were part of a West London outfit said to have smuggled £15 million.

Money in a suitcase.

Hanlon had declared she was carrying more than £1m in cash each time she arrived in Dubai. (Image: National Crime Agency)

In August 2019 the agency froze £100 million held across eight bank accounts with a UK branch of the Dubai Government’s Emirates NBD Bank PJSC.

The same year, Mick Gallagher, then head of the Met Police Serious Crime Command, said: “There is a hell of a lot of construction out there. The lack of regulation in Dubai means it has become a money-laundering centre globally.”

From 2019 throughout lockdown, the now infamous "Sunshine and Lollipops" group of young Brits were carrying millions of pounds of cash on behalf of organised crime groups to Dubai.

Remarkably the millions of pounds of cash secretly left the UK in suitcases on Emirates flights and was officially declared and accepted in Dubai as gold trading profits.

The case culminated in a series of high-profile prosecutions, including that of UAE-born ringleader Abdulla Alfalasi, 47, who had connections to the highest echelons of Dubai society.

However, several Brits remain in Dubai - apparently under investigation.

Last year a British prosecutor was heard to say in a break during an organised crime case that people wanted in the UK "bribed" Dubai officials and "nothing happened" in terms of their extradition.

A senior British detective said: “Because of the poor extradition record from Dubai to the UK criminals feel they can operate there with impunity.”

The notorious Kinahan Cartel, which originated in Ireland but has major bases in the UK and Spain, is suspected of major international drug smuggling.

Its kingpin Christy, 67, runs the organisation with sons Daniel, 47, and Christopher, 43, who have resident identity cards as consultants in Dubai.

It is known where they are living in Dubai, but more than two years on from the US putting up a $5m (£3.8m) bounty on each of them for information leading to their arrest and prosecution, they have not been extradited.

However, in more recent years, there have been extraditions from Dubai of some senior British and other organised crime figures.

Liverpool crooks Leon Cullen and Michael Moogan were respectively arrested in Dubai in February and April 2021 and later returned to the UK and jailed.

Yet, according to underworld sources, there are about 400 British criminals wanted on suspicion of using the infiltrated EncroChat mobile phone system still hiding out in Dubai.

Moving to Dubai has also brought senior organised crime figures from across the globe into one place where they can operate together, effectively forming super cartels.

One former Met Police detective said: "When I was investigating British organised crime in the 1990s Dubai never came up - Spain did.

"After 2000 it cropped up a few times, but since I have retired it seems to have ballooned. Every other crime story you read seems to somehow link back to Dubai."

Express.co.uk has contacted the Dubai authorities several times to ask about this reputation and why it did not have more controls in case when millions of pounds of cash were brought into the country and declared in suitcases during the Sunshine and Lollipops case and has yet to have a response.

Emirates has also been approached for comment about the case without a response.

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