A 44-year-old Margate man has been sent to prison for 40 months for helping organised crime groups launder money.
Bilal Tozsu, who was a company secretary for M&M Kebab Shop when it incorporated in 2008, travelled throughout the UK collecting more than £4,000,000 on behalf of the groups.
In March 2023 Tozsu was stopped in his car on the M4 at Magor by officers from Tarian, the Regional Organised Crime Unit for southern Wales (ROCU), working in partnership with Gwent Police.
During a search of his vehicle officers discovered bags containing large bundles of cash, later confirmed to total over £285,000.
The subsequent investigation into Tozsu’s activities revealed the full extent of his role in aiding organised crime.
Mr Tozsu came to the UK from Turkey in 1998 and is dad to two children with medical needs. He previously lived in Ramsgate and also had a food business in St Peters.
Detective Constable Sean Meyrick, from Tarian’s Regional Disruption team, said: “Bilal Tozsu played a significant role in helping organised crime groups benefit from the proceeds of crime.
“Cash is the lifeblood of these groups, enabling them to reinvest ‘laundered’ money into activities such as drug trafficking, which in turn fuels violence and fear.
“Tarian is committed to tackling organised criminality and we welcome the sentence today. The money recovered during this investigation has been prevented from reaching the hands of those who would use it to inflict the most harm upon our region.”
