A gang of fraudsters operating in Eton and Windsor stole £34 million in VAT and laundered £87 million from selling illicit alcohol.

The nine strong gang was headed by Riaz Khan, 49, of Hatch Lane, Windsor, Fiaz Raja, 52, of Goldsworthy Way, Slough, Muhammad Rasool, 38, of Carmarthen Road, Slough and Jayesh Shah, 52, of Crawford Avenue, Wembley.

The fraudsters operated between January 2013 and 2015 from offices in Eton High Street and later Windsor.

The sophisticated scheme would begin with a company purportedly supplying goods to another, and charging VAT on them. But instead of the supplying company handing over the VAT to Revenue and Customs, the fraudsters would pocket the money and the business would later disappear – becoming a 'missing trader'.

The same consignment of goods would then be sold on through one or more so-called 'buffer companies' before reaching a cash and carry at the end of the chain.

A Revenue and Customs investigation team dismantled the complex operation after executing more than 20 warrants in January 2015 across the South East.

Evidence showed £87m was laundered through more than 50 bank accounts in Britain, Cyprus, Hong Kong, Dubai and other foreign countries.

Officers caught the fraudsters red-handed when they installed covert cameras in one of the offices being used by the gang. Footage was shown in court of Khan, Rasool and Raja giving comprehensive instructions to other members of how to carry out the fraud.

Khan was convicted at Southwark Crown Court after a trial of cheating the public revenue and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He was sentenced to eight years in prison on May 24.

Rasool was convicted after trial of cheating the public revenue and sentenced to eight years on the same date.

Raja admitted cheating the public revenue and received a six year sentence on the same date, while Shah got a seven and a half year term on the same charge.

Sameer Dhanji, 37, of Upton Road, Slough, was convicted after trial of cheating the public revenue and received a lesser sentenced at the same court to three years and six months in jail on Friday.

Richard Mayer, assistant director, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said: “This was a well-planned money laundering operation and tax fraud that stole millions of pounds of UK taxpayer money which should have been used to fund vital public services in the UK.

“The sums stolen by this organised crime group could have paid the equivalent of 1,400 salaries of newly-qualified teachers – enough to fully staff around 93 schools."

*Also sentenced on May 24 were Divyesh Karsan, 50, of Grosvenor Crescent, London - five years and two months after admitting cheating the public revenue; Salmon Ahmed, 49, of Wallis House, Brentford - five years and two months after admitting cheating the public revenue, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Sentenced on Friday were Waqas Aslam, 38, of Church Road, Hayes, convicted after trial of cheating the public revenue - 26 weeks in jail, suspended for 24 months and 150 hours unpaid work; Sameer Dhanji, 37, of Upton Road, Slough, convicted after trial of cheating the public revenue - three years and six months in jail; Geoffrey Hayes, 51, of Denmark Villas, Hove, who pleaded guilty to cheating the public revenue - three years and six months in jail.