Drug money laundering gang jailed

The shop in Sheffield through which more than £1m was laundered

A Jamaican drugs gang who laundered more than £1m in drugs money through a newsagent's shop have been jailed.

Ten gang members were sentenced to a total of just over 26 years for their part in the scam in Sheffield.

Rajia Iqbal, 43, who ran Spital Hill News in Spital Hill, Sheffield, was jailed for 11 years for laundering the cash on behalf of the drugs barons.

Iqbal was found guilty at Sheffield Crown Court of conspiracy to launder money in the crime involving his shop.

Judge Patrick Robertshaw said the men were guilty of "offending on a massive scale" and had brought misery to many.

'Calculated and chronic'

He told Iqbal: "You were the lynchpin. Without your agency this could not have happened.

"Your breach of the responsibility for which you were entrusted was flagrant, calculated and chronic.

"Is it possible to envisage a worse case? It is, but only just."

The court heard funds from the sale of drugs were sent via money transfer to relatives of the gang in Jamaica, where it funded a lavish lifestyle.

Iqbal had allowed more than 1,500 payments to go to Jamaica through the money transfer service he operated from his newsagents.

'Message to criminals'

Among the others sentenced on Thursday were 35-year-old drug dealer Carl Hinds who was jailed for eight years for money laundering and drugs supply offences.

Richard Blake, 28, received a five-year sentence for similar offences.

Det Insp Andy Bishop, who was involved in the five-year police investigation, said: "This sends a message to Jamaican criminals coming across here to take wealth out of the country through drug dealing that we are prepared to pursue them not only locally but internationally as well."