FOUR men from Slough have been sentenced to a total of 26 years after being convicted of money laundering up to £6.5 million on behalf of organised crime gangs.

Wasim Khan 39, of Goodman Park, Wahdat Munir, 33, of Kirkwall Spur, and Mohammed Ahmadi, 36, of Bath Road, all Slough, were found guilty of five counts between them of conspiracy to transfer criminal property.

Farhad Naimi, 41, now of Lewes Close, Norholt, was also found guilty of the same charge.

They were all involved in the transmission of criminal cash from organised crime gangs ranging from £2.4 to £6.5 million, Thames Valley Police has said following a four week trial at Reading Crown Court.

Khan, Munir and Admadi were involved in the collection and transmission of £2.4 million between May 13 and September 16, 2015.

Munir and Admadi were also involved with a further £500,000 from September 16, 2015 to April, 6 2016.

Naimi was found guilty of the collection and onward transmission of £6.5 million from various organised crime gangs between September 16, 2015 and April 6, 2016.

Investigating officer, Detective Sergeant Rob Hood, from TVP’s Serious and Organised Crime Unit, said: “Operation Solitude was a challenging investigation conducted by the Serious and Organised Crime unit, in collaboration with our partner agencies, the National Crime Agency and the Metropolitan Police Service.

“It identified a small cell of offenders were receiving huge amounts of criminal cash from various different organised crime groups which was then laundered through money service businesses in the Southall and South Harrow areas, before being transmitted abroad, often to Dubai, Afghanistan and China.

“Money laundering can often be viewed as a ‘victimless’ crime. However, the source of the criminal cash within Operation Solitude has been identified as coming from different organised crime gangs including one involved in the importation of large amounts of cocaine from Holland, utilising light aircraft, to one involved in the importation of firearms from the continent.

“These sentences form part of a force-wide initiative to tackle drugs and serious organised crime, as part of our Stronghold campaign.

“The organised crime gangs utilised the services of these defendants to launder their criminal cash, which clearly represents a major threat to the communities, not only of Thames Valley but to the whole of the UK.

“In total, the defendants were identified as having been involved in the transfer of about £10 million of criminal cash, during the 11 month period of the indictments.

“The scale of this investigation shows that this type of offence will not be tolerated within the Thames Valley and the sentences handed down by His Honour Judge John should act as a deterrent to others.”

Khan was jailed for four and a half years, Munir for eight years, Ahmadi for six and a half years and Naimi for seven.