A MAN has been jailed for trying to smuggle £110,000 in laundered cash out of the UK and into Pakistan.

Raja Majid Iqbal, 42 of The Frithe, Slough was sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court to 15 months’ imprisonment for money laundering and perverting the course of justice. He had been stopped at Heathrow Airport back in 2015.

Ahmed Raza Kayani, 41, of Dewsbury, was sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment suspended for 12 months for perverting the course of justice after he tried to back up Iqbal’s lie of claiming that the money had been collected as charitable donations for the purposes of flood relief in Pakistan. Kayani was also ordered to pay £500 in costs and to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work. Both men had previously pleaded guilty to the offences.

Iqbal was stopped at Heathrow Airport by Border Force officers on August 3, 2015 as he was due to board a flight to Pakistan. He initially declared that he was carrying around £700 in cash with him, but when they searched his hand luggage, officers found £4,000 in cash.

Unable to explain himself, Border Force officers also searched the rest of his luggage, and found further bundles of cash inside the two checked-in bags along with the cash already discovered – in all totalling £110,000.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "Iqbal was arrested by police and initially told officers that the money had been given to him by his builder who had asked him to take it to Pakistan and donate to charities helping with flood relief efforts in the country. He was released on bail as officers carried out further enquiries.

"But in October 2015, Iqbal changed his story again, stating that around 20 different people had actually made the charitable donations. When they tried to contact the alleged donors, officers were unable to contact or verify Iqbal’s story with the majority of them."

Kayani was listed as one of the 20 people, and when officers spoke with him, he claimed that he had collected around £2,000 from various friends and family, which he then gave to Iqbal as a charitable donation.

However, when officers checked with many of the people Kayani claimed had given him money; they gave differing accounts – either stating that they had never given him money or that they had given him money at different times or amounts to what Kayani had originally told police.

Kayani was arrested in January 2017 and when officers challenged him about his account, he eventually admitted that Iqbal had asked him to lie about giving him the money for charity.

Iqbal will now be subject to confiscation proceedings.