Cocaine buying in the UK is funding Russia's war effort in Ukraine, NCA warns

Criminals working in 28 towns and cities who generate "dirty cash" from drugs, firearms and immigration gangs are having their earnings converted into cryptocurrency, the National Crime Agency said.

This illegal capital is then used to bankroll "geopolitical events causing suffering around the world", with the gang generating enough money to purchase a bank, which allowed payments to support Russia's military efforts and help clients avoid sanctions in the UK.

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Officials exposed this grim underground network through Operation Destabilise, which has seen 128 people arrested and more than £25 million in cash and digital assets seized.

Couriers on the pipeline have been targeted with posters at motorway service stations, which warn it is "just a matter of time" before they are arrested.

These UK-based individuals "play an intrinsic role" in the global criminal enterprise, which poses a "significant" threat, NCA's deputy director for economic crime Sal Melki said.

He added: "Cash couriers are in our communities and are making the criminal ecosystem function - because if you cannot profit from your crimes, why bother.

"They are paid very little for the risks they take and face years in prison, while those they work for enjoy huge profits."

The launderers were not just couriers, but instead individuals who are “sustaining an entire architecture that allows crime to pay in our country”.

And earning just a few hundred pounds through this network could lead to years behind bars, Mr Melki said.

The NCA boss continued: "For the first time, we are tying drugs trades in our community all the way through to the highest levels of organised crime, geopolitics, sanctions evasion, the Russian industrial military complex, and state-linked activity.

“We could draw a really clear thread between somebody buying some cocaine on a Friday night, all the way through to geopolitical events that are causing suffering across the world.”

In December last year, the agency exposed two networks, TGR and Smart, which were working together to launder money for transnational crime groups.

The networks were known to help their Russian clients “illegally bypass” financial restrictions to invest money in the UK, according to the NCA.

Smart is headed by 39-year-old Ekaterina Zhdanova, a Russian national said to have been born in Siberia before making it in the financial industry and building up connections in Moscow.

It is understood that TGR and Smart laundered for Irish cartel the Kinahans, and for state-controlled TV network Russia Today.

Senior members of the networks were sanctioned by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in December and Zhdanova is being held in pre-trial detention in France.

In August, the UK government sanctioned a company called Altair Holding SA, as part of a wider crackdown on Russia’s attempts to exploit Kyrgyz financial systems and crypto networks.

The NCA said that, on Christmas Day 2024, Altair purchased a 75% stake of Keremet bank, which was subsequently sanctioned by the UK and US.

Keremet was identified as facilitating cross-border payments on behalf of Russian state-owned bank Promsvyazbank, which supported companies involved in the Russian military industry.

Despite the success of Operation Destabilise, Mr Melki said the NCA and its partners “will not stop”.

He added: "With over 120 arrests, we are making a difference and have significantly restricted these networks’ ability to operate in the UK.

"But there are other networks like them and it is imperative we continue to arrest, prosecute, seize and sanction, and deny these criminals access to the financial services they exploit."