guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 5 January 2011 21.45 GMT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/05/police-smash-london-drug-gangster-syndicate

Scotland Yard's largest-ever simultaneous raid led to jailing of 33 gang members, including a 7/7 fireman, and closes London hub of money-laundering and drug-dealing network which distributed £100m worth of cocaine

With its heavy metal shutters and corrugated iron roof, the utilitarian exterior of Royal Oak Taxis, squeezed beneath the Westway flyover in Paddington, west London, gave no clues to its actual purpose.

But, far from being the black-cab repair garage it purported to be, it was instead a one-stop shop for criminal gangs whose members included a fireman hero of the 7/7 attacks. It served as the hub of a vast drug and money laundering network that flooded the south-east of England with an estimated £100m worth of cocaine.

The astonishing reach of the criminal network throughout London and the home counties emerged as the last of 33 gang members – all of them arrested during the biggest simultaneous drug raids ever staged by Scotland Yard – was today sentenced as part of Operation Eaglewood, begun by the police special intelligence section (SIS) three years ago.

Those convicted following the dawn raids by 520 officers on 22 addresses – with police using a JCB mechanical digger to smash down a security wall in one case – have been sentenced to a total of more than 200 years in jail.

Among them is Simon Ford, 41, a firefighter commended for heroism after he risked his life to rescue victims on the No 30 bus which was blown up in Tavistock Square during the suicide bomb attacks on London in 2005.

The recipient of a London Fire Brigade gold award for bravery, he claimed he turned to cocaine after the 7/7 bombings. But he went on to become an important member of the network of underworld gangs responsible for importing, repackaging and distributing drugs, then laundering profits on an industrial scale through a corrupt bureau de change.

Details of the convictions had been subject to legal restrictions, which were lifted today following the conclusion of the last of 16 linked trials spanning two years.

The raids came after a 10-month surveillance operation targeting 10 established gangs who worked together to create a "clearing house" to launder profits.

The centre of this criminal spider's web was Royal Oak Taxis, a rundown, fortified garage and cafe owned by Israeli-born Eyad Iktilat, 47. He was also a director of the nearby Euro Foreign Exchange, through which up to £1m a day in drug money would be laundered.

Millions of pounds in cash and drugs flowed through the garage's shuttered doors as the gangs used it as a "clearing bank". Teams of runners, or "money mules", dropped sackfuls of sterling to be exchanged into more easily transportable €500 notes at the nearby foreign exchange.

Undercover detectives were led to Iktilat in April 2007 after following two convicted drug traffickers who were meeting a mystery accomplice. When arrested, one of them, Kofi Appiagyei, 28, was found to be in possession of a bag stuffed with €1.6m (£1.36m) and a raid on his home uncovered a Glock pistol.

Police discovered that the mystery accomplice was Iktilat, whose criminal dealings had allowed him to establish a fleet of cars including a Porsche and a Bentley Continental, both with personalised plates, and an extensive property portfolio to which he was poised to add a £2.75m villa development in Spain.

Further leads took officers to Simon Ford's door. The Soho-based firefighter was on sick leave, claiming to be suffering from stress. He was due to give evidence to the 7/7 inquest.

Initially he was believed to be a money launderer, as he was seen making repeat visits to drop off bags containing up to £500,000 in cash at the taxi garage.

Only after the raids did investigators realise what an important role Ford played in the gang network. He was caught red-handed at his flat in Chertsey, Surrey, as he divided more than 100kg of cocaine, worth around £5.5m, into bags – his medal glittering on a display table nearby.

The drugs had been picked up from a beach in the Kent coastal town of Hythe the previous night, having been smuggled from continental Europe on a rigid-hulled inflatable speedboat.

When officers stormed Ford's property, the waterproof canoe bags in which the drugs had been smuggled were still wet with seawater.

Ford was due to distribute the drugs to a ring of couriers waiting at service stations around the M25 within the hour, police believe. As officers searched the flat, dozens of calls were made to three pay-as-you-go mobile phones as worried criminal contacts wondered what had happened to Ford.

The firefighter, who owned two Audis and lived what has been described as a "champagne lifestyle", had compiled a handwritten delivery list. Drug paraphernalia littered his plush flat, along with a freshly prepared line of cocaine.

He admitted laundering several million pounds and conspiracy to supply cocaine, and was jailed for 14 years.

Aman Salhan, 28, a cage fighter from Harlington, west London, who was also arrested in Ford's flat, was jailed for 17 years after a jury found him guilty of conspiracy to import cocaine.

Iktilat, of Euston, north London, denied counts of money laundering, conspiracy to supply cocaine and cannabis, and possession of cocaine, but was convicted after a five-month trial. Initially jailed for 21 years, his sentence was increased to 30 on appeal. "He did not believe he was doing anything wrong. He believed he was acting as a bank," said an officer.

In two years, an estimated £100m passed through the ramshackle breeze-block taxi building. It was then taken to the bureau de change. There, manager Jean-Claude Frigieri, 56, of West Molesey, Surrey, bought up to €450,000 at a time, sometimes several times a day, from a bank note wholesaler called Interchange, which had no idea about his criminal dealings. He was convicted of money laundering and jailed for 10 years.

Belying the gangster movie image, this collection of drug and money laundering gangs maintained an "amiable" relationship with each other, according to a senior investigation source. If one gang was late paying for drugs, it was given more time, and not subjected to violence for fear of attracting police attention.

Criminals would be "introduced" to Royal Oak Taxis, paying a usual 5% commission to "clean up their money". "For a drugs gang, the hardest part is not smuggling the drugs in, it is cleaning up their money," said the senior investigator.

Helping them to do that was the network's main banker, Iraqi-born Maythen al-Ansari, 42, from Hillingdon in west London, whose extensive business interests allowed him to deal with large sums of money without attracting attention. He was jailed for three years for money laundering.

The network's tentacles stretched to Colombia, Spain, Israel, India, Dubai, Morocco and other north African states.

Others linked to the gangs included a convicted murderer, bodybuilders, and a Cambridgeshire drug dealer, Russell Tate, 49, whose brother Patrick was shot dead in a Range Rover in Rettendon, Essex, in 1995.

Detective Superintendent Steve Richardson, head of SIS, said the operation dealt a huge blow to the UK class-A drug industry. "These criminals had been living the lives of wealthy businessmen through their criminal activity. The lives they are now leading could not be more different.

"The link between drugs and violence has been well made and can ultimately be traced to violence and harm in London's boroughs. Operation Eaglewood has prevented these men contributing to that." The final gang member to be imprisoned was Anwar Laraba, 39, of St John's Wood, north London. He was jailed for four years and eight months at Southwark crown court today after admitting conspiracy to supply cannabis.

Two suspects, Carlos Tabares and Nicholas John "Peter" Tayler, are still wanted by police for offences including money laundering, drug trafficking and conspiracy to supply cocaine.

Jonathan McGarry, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said today's trial was the last in a series of 16 linked hearings that formed the biggest case ever handled in London by prosecutors and the Met.

He said: "Having also co-ordinated the 16 trials, I have seen dozens of corrupt criminals face justice and a series of drugs and money laundering networks disbanded. I thank the Metropolitan police for their exhaustive investigation, and pay tribute to the witnesses who bravely came forward to give evidence to ensure these dangerous men would not go unpunished."

Others to be jailed included Royal Oak Taxis co-owner Stuart Wright, 49, of Paddington, who was convicted of money laundering and jailed for 10 years, and Patrick Dowling, 49, also of St John's Wood, who admitted money laundering and two cocaine supply conspiracies, and was jailed for 10 years.

The banker

Iraqi refugee Maythem al-Ansari was the main banker. When police swooped on his £3m west London home they had to use a digger and angle grinders to smash through a fortified security wall.

He arrived in Britain in 1999 as Mithum Mohammed, later changing his name to al-Ansari, a famous banking name in Saudi Arabia. He worked as a bus driver but swiftly built up a multi-million-pound property empire. By 2004 he was investing in restaurants and vineyards and specialising in properties in Park Lane and Mayfair.

The 42-year-old used business links to lend an air of legitimacy, and could exchange large amounts without attracting suspicion, making him the perfect cover for someone to change large amounts of cash into euros.