It’s payback time for organised crime gang

A “BANKER” who laundered money for an organised crime gang has made a new £1m-plus investment — to the police service.
By Bob Westerdale
Published 20th Jun 2022, 10:18 GMT
Updated 20th Jun 2022, 10:26 GMT

Rotherham father-of-two Torick Akram (pictured) was said to be an “enthusiastic and fastidious collector of cash” for a drugs mob that ran a nationwide cocaine and heroin network.

Torick Akram was jailed in March last year following an operation by the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit

The Advertiser has now learned that Akram (38), of Hesley Bar, Thorpe Hesley, has been ordered to forfeit £1,266,535 after Proceeds of Crime Act proceedings.

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He was arrested after police seized £1.1 million in cash in two suitcases stashed in his car boot —  one of the biggest single cash seizures in the region.

Detectives also found a “vault” at his home, containing a further £161,000.

Drugs courier Joshua Walshaw (26), of Central Avenue, East Dene, was ordered to pay £151,975 on top of a six-year sentence, having been arrested on the M1 with cash in his vehicle.

Ringleader Imran Mohammed (36) of Fir Vale, Sheffield, was told to hand over £65,937, having been put away for 16 years.

A police spokesman said: “Proceeds of Crime inquiries are still ongoing in relation to further confiscation orders being obtained by Yorkshire and Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit officers and we await the outcome of those investigations.”

Another likely target is Adrees Rehman (27) of Oxley Grove, Broom, another key figure, who was jailed for 14 years.

It was estimated that the gang, in a 74-day period between March and June 2020, raised more than £6.4 million in cash from their drug trafficking.

This represented 176kgs of cocaine and 18kgs of heroin.

Akram, whose Thorpe Hesley family home contained cash counting machines, elastic bands, and cash wrappings, was the first man they arrested and admitted “concealing, disguising, converting, transferring or removing criminal cash, by means of transporting the money concealed in a vehicle”.

He was jailed for four-and-a-half years.

Judge Graham Reeds had told Akram on sentencing: “The money-laundering operation you were part of was sophisticated and was potentially used to launder vast amounts of money.”