A jailed boss nicknamed ‘Loadsamoney’ faces going bust after he and his Manchester family were ordered to pay back £400,000 bill from their dodgy dealings.
Brash company director Mohammed Basit Chaudhry, 26, boasted about his counterfeit clothing racket by posing for a picture waving a £20,000 wad of bank notes – just like the TV comedy character played by Harry Enfield in the 1980s.
But officers found the incriminating photo on Chaudhry’s mobile phone during raids on his newly-renovated £200,000 semi-detached family home in Chorlton where he lived with his brother and parents.
The photo – taken while Chaudhry was holidaying in Dubai – showed him a shiny striped designer hooded tracksuit type jacket, baseball cap with a Dolce and Gabbana bag and sporting a huge goofy smile as he waved his giant wad of ten pound notes at the camera.
Inquiries revealed the Chaudhrys – who wore expensive clothing, designer watches and holidayed in exotic locations – operated as a crime family and had their home lavishly furnished and installed a CCTV security system displayed on a flat screen TV.
During the course of the investigation officers recovered counterfeit clothing worth £250,000 and more than seven kilograms of cannabis with a street value of around £70,000.
In February last year at Manchester Crown Court Basit, who used to run clothing firm Gino Trading, was jailed for three years and four months after he pleaded guilty to possessing class B drugs with intent to supply and money laundering.
His bankrupt brother Mohammed Kamran Chaudhry, 30, was jailed for two years after admitting conspiracy to sell counterfeit goods and money laundering.
Their businessman father Abdul Hamid Chaudhry, 59, of Chatburn Road, Chorlton, was jailed for 20 months after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to sell counterfeit goods and money laundering.
Their mother Shahnuz Akhtar Chaudhry, 57, was jailed for ten weeks after admitting mortgage fraud.
Today Greater Manchester Police said a financial investigation into the family’s dodgy business affairs had been completed which showed they had benefited by over £2.5million.
But based on available assets the family have been ordered to pay back a total of only £423,942.36. Basit faces extra jail if he fails to pay of his £14,155 share of the proceeds within three months. All family properties have been sold and leased cars returned.
Det Con Pete Fawcett said: “Thanks to the POCA ruling and the cash and property already restrained, the Chaudhry family will have more than £423,000 stripped from them.
“We have closed down their criminal businesses and they have been forced to sell their properties and one of the family members had to return her top of the range Mercedes to the leasing company.
“This is money they have made from the counterfeit goods and drug trade and demonstrates that we will continue our investigations even when someone has been sentenced and jailed.
“Greater Manchester Police is determined to bring those involved in criminality to justice and if anyone has benefited financially they can expect to be stripped of their assets.”
The family’s crime empire was smashed after a two year investigation by the police during which numerous raids were carried out on the family home between 2009 and 2011.
The first occurred in February 2009 when officers seized more than £26,000 and almost five kilograms of Lidocaine, a cutting agent for cocaine.
The following January further raids carried out at clothing trading firms owned by Abdul Hamid Chaudhry and approximately seven kilograms of cannabis was seized.
In the business premises of Abdul’s firm Merit Smart, boxes of counterfeit clothing were found and a computer was seized, which when examined showed recent searches related to drug supply and importation.
Following further unconnected intelligence, another raid was carried out at the family home on 14 May 2010 and a counter surveillance scanner, phones and a camera were seized.
The phones were examined and contained a photograph of a large cannabis cultivation and photographs of the family holidaying in Dubai and Pakistan.
A raid at a different property uncovered a quantity of cannabis along with high value watches.
On June 8 2011, 42 cartons of GHD gift sets were seized worth approximately £65,000. The paperwork also found related to Gino Trading.
Police then carried out a further eight raids on the same day in November 2011 across Chorlton, Prestwich, Stretford and Cheetham Hill and recovered £15,000 in cash, a large amount of high value jewellery and another counter surveillance scanner.
On Thursday February 11 2012, Gino Trading itself was searched and three boxes of clothing were seized. The clothing within the boxes was examined by Trading Standards officers who confirmed they were counterfeit goods.
Picture courtesy of Experian, with thanks.
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