Chinese gang who laundered £55m and arranged shady cash deals around London are jailed for nearly 25 years

A Chinese gang who laundered more than £55m and arranged shady cash deals around London have been jailed.

A three-year investigation by officers in Stoke Newington uncovered a sophisticated international network of money laundering via Chinese underground banking.

Officers found that over £55m had been laundered between February 2020 and June 2023, and seven criminals have now been handed a total of 24 years and 11 months behind bars.

The gang's ringleader, Qiji Wang, 29, who operated under the user handle 'There is a Big Sun in the Sky' on a Chinese messaging app that was used to carry out the illegal operations, has been jailed for 12 years.

Wang and three others, including one woman, were sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown Court on August 19 for a range of money laundering offences. Three others were previously sentenced, also at Snaresbrook Crown Court, in June.

Wang was jailed for conspiracy to money launder and operating an unregistered money service business.

Officers began investigating the group following increasing concerns around underground banking.

On 29 December 2022, officers conducted two simultaneous warrants. While searching the first address, belonging to Xiaoyu Shu, 29, and Yin Ying Wang, 28, both of Biscayne Avenue, Canary Wharf, they found more than £104,000 in a carrier bag hidden in a wardrobe.

The second warrant took place at the address of Yunchen Huang, 28, of Biscayne Avenue, Canary Wharf, where multiple cash counting machines and money bags were discovered.

Officers seized a total of almost £500,000 in assets from the group.

Specialist officers then undertook comprehensive analysis of Shu and Huang's mobile phones, revealing that the pair were using a Chinese messaging app to sell British pounds to university students to circumnavigate foreign currency controls which limits the amount of cash that can be taken out of China per year.

The messages also identified that Shu and Huang were working for a person with the user handle 'There is a Big Sun in the Sky.'

This person arranged for the pair to collect large amounts of cash, sometimes as large as a quarter of a million pounds at a time.

Shu and Huang were not told the identities of those they collected cash from, and were instructed to take a photo of a £5 bank note, including the unique serial number. This was then passed onto the courier allowing the interaction to take place without either party knowing the identity of the other.

This was done by the group to prevent those in the chain giving information to police if they were arrested.

Officers also identified that Peng Liu, 28, and Ang Li, 26, of Peninsula Square, Canary Wharf, were assisting the group by operating an unregistered money business.

Counting machines and £14,600 in cash were found during a search at their address in June 2023.

Officers were then able to identify that Qiji Wang was the head of the group and responsible for the handle 'There is a Big Sun in the Sky.' When searching his address in Manchester, they discovered numerous mobile phones, computers, bank cards in others' names and a cash counting machine.

These mobile phones and computers were forensically searched by officers and included comprehensive ledgers of each consignment from February 2020 – June 2023, allowing the officers to value the earnings of the operation at over £55 million.

Qiji Wang was sentenced to 12 years in jail, while Ruolan Chen, 28, also of Left Bank, Manchester, was sentenced to two years for operating an unregistered money service business.

Shu was sentenced to three years and eight months in prison, while Huang was given three years and four months.

At the earlier sentencing in June, Liu and Li were handed 18 months in jail, while Yin Ying Wang was sentenced to 11 months.

DC Zach Rowe, of the Stoke Newington Proactive Crime Team, said: 'Thanks to the hard work and perseverance of highly skilled officers in the Met, we have been able to disrupt a sophisticated economic crime operation.

'The sheer scale of this laundering will generate crimes such as illegal drug supply, prostitution, human trafficking and more.

'This verdict and the lengthy three-year investigation that led to it, demonstrates that we'll leave no stone unturned in our pursuit to catch criminals who look to enjoy the proceeds of illicit funds – no matter how complex the case.'

Benn Maguire, lead counsel from QEB Hollis Whiteman, said: 'The assiduous and relentless commitment of DC Rowe and his team, to investigating this case, has resulted in dismantling a professional gang of international money launderers.

'The gang laundered vast sums of cash (in excess of £55 million) on behalf of those involved in organised crime.

'This successful prosecution has eviscerated the criminal operation, preventing those involved in crime from profiting from their wrongdoing.'