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.”
Very well done, another criminal caught and off our streets.
Do you honestly feel safer with this clear bottom of the food chain driver behind bars? What about the crime gangs mentioned? Seems they are still flooding the streets with drugs. This guy would have been replaced quickly & it seems the police made zero effort to get this guy to cut a deal to lead them to the actual dangerous people.
What is known as a photo op & tough on drugs easy collar/conviction story-all we ever seem to get from most forces. Look at the sentence-3 years & he will likely be out in good behaviour in half that-some dangerous criminal. This Tarian seem to be like the county lines cops-all they do is cause a minor annoyance for a day or two, but it is like putting a plaster over a gaping 10 inch wound.
Wow. Foreign nationals using shops in Thanet as a front for money laundering.
Who would have thought it ?
Now look at all the Turkish barbers & kebab shops in Broadstairs & you will catch some more.
Less Turkish, more Albanian you’ll find.
I find it amazing how barbers and nail bars buck the national downward retail trends by booming in town centres.
Deport him and family
Bloody hell , this is the governor of M&M kebab my uncle work for them as a delivery driver
Censored. No free speech allowed on here even though judges ruled it “correct and legal”
I’m not at all surprised that Bill’s earlier posting was deleted. It was an absurd and thoroughly racist series of questions. What on earth has he been reading, or watching?
As usual with these types of stories not a mention from the police or CPS of the organised crime groups members/top dogs punishment if any-just the sap stupid enough to be loading his car with six figure sums taking all the risks, for the lowest cut of cash.
Guys like this can be replaced at the drop of a hat & that kind of money is pocket change to these groups. Did they cut a deal, follow him & gather evidence against these groups in return for a lesser sentence? If so where is the details of the prosecutions? Or did they just nick him & ignore the crime networks?
If not then just like the county lines couriers & the chumps getting caught at the ports with vans full of drugs, then you are just catching the bottom feeders for backslapping ‘tough on drugs’ stories like this, while making zero impact on drug cartels whatsoever.
Well, it takes a private agency connected to the Welsh Police Organised Crime Unit to bring this guy into custody. But what is Kent Police doing about all the organised criminals living and working from Kent?
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