Three convicted money launderers are on the run after being sentenced in their absence over a staggering £266million criminal cash operation believed to be the largest of its kind in UK legal history.
Gregory Frankel, 48, Haroon Rashid, 56, and Arjun Babber, 34, all failed to attend court for their trials and are believed to have fled the country.
Police are now hunting the trio and working to secure their extradition so they can serve their prison sentences, as reported by Need To Know.
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The men were convicted over their roles in a vast operation which saw criminal cash funnelled through a Bradford-based scrap jewellery business.
More than £266million was paid into the accounts of Fowler Oldfield between January 2014 and September 2016, with cash being processed at a rate of up to £1.7million a day.
The money was then used to buy high-purity gold which was shipped to Dubai using fake invoices, giving the criminal proceeds an appearance of legitimacy.
West Yorkshire Police said its investigation was believed to be the largest investigation into the laundering of criminal cash in UK legal history.
The case began in 2016 after a cash-in-transit company raised concerns about the huge increase in money being collected from Fowler Oldfield’s premises.
Officers later uncovered couriers regularly arriving with bags packed with huge quantities of cash.
A police investigation involving thousands of hours of CCTV footage, forensic analysis of invoices and banking records eventually exposed the scale of the operation.
In March 2025, the four men at the heart of the original prosecution were sentenced for their involvement.
Frankel was handed 11 years and eight months, Rashid 10 years and Babber 11 years – all in their absence.
Daniel Rawson, 49, who was the only one of the four present in court, was jailed for 10 years and 10 months.
A further trial has since resulted in two more convictions.
Baqa Haider, 51, was jailed for six years, while Nathan Rivers, 45, received a 27-month suspended sentence with a curfew requirement.
Police said the investigation had exposed criminals laundering money on an ‘industrial scale’.
West Yorkshire Police’s Economic Crime Unit is continuing to appeal for information which could help locate Frankel, Rashid and Babber.
Anyone with information can contact police quoting Operation Larkshot.
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