The bank for gangsters: Police opened up almost 7,000 safety deposit boxes and discovered £50m criminals' treasure trove



Largest sting in Yard's history and biggest operation against organised crime

500 officers spent 12 days of 24-hour searches examining 6,717 private boxes

Paintings, gold ingots, gold dust, jewellery, drugs, fraudulent passports seized



The directors of a 'cash and carry for crooks' will be sentenced today for running a £50million 'treasure trove' for criminals.



Milton Woolf and Jacqueline Swan funded wealthy lifestyles by charging criminal gangs tens of thousands of pounds each to store more than £50million in cash, along with firearms and child pornography linked with contract killers, drug dealers and human traffickers.



Police later seized nearly 7,000 safety deposit boxes in a £10million sting, described as one of Scotland Yard's most ambitious investigations in its 180-year history and the largest operation against organised crime.



Crime scene: Police seized nearly 7,000 safety deposit boxes in a £10million sting, described as one of Scotland Yard's most ambitious investigations in its 180-year history

Jacqueline Swan and Milton Woolf funded wealthy lifestyles by charging criminal gangs tens of thousands of pounds each for storage of more than £50million in cash, along with firearms and child pornography

Paintings, gold ingots, gold dust, jewellery, drugs, fraudulent passports, paedophile material and fake documents were found stashed in boxes at the fraudsters’ London headquarters.

Meanwhile, directors Woolf and Swan turned a blind eye to the illicit goods and even advised customers how to store goods in such a way that would not arouse suspicion, Southwark Crown Court was told.

As a result criminals flocked to their headquarters and in one instance, a gun and balaclava used in a murder at the premises were stored there.

Working hard: Jacqueline Swan at work among the bank of safety deposit boxes If clients stopped paying rent the boxes would be forced open and in some cases, the money inside would be pocketed. Michael Holland QC, prosecuting, said: 'The directors, we say, wanted to try to adopt the "three wise monkeys" approach - hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil, rather than be vigilant to report suspicious activity as they were obliged to do.' Police launched Operation Rize, involving more than 500 officers, after detectives worked on a host of tip-offs that Safe Deposit Centres Limited was corrupt.

Cache: Safe deposit boxes found at the Park Lane depositary. Police seized thousands of boxes from three vaults in London after receiving intelligence they were used by criminals to store cash, guns and drugs

Police haul: A 9mm Glock hand gun was found in a Hampstead depository box. Milton Woolf and Jacqueline Swan adopted a 'three wise monkeys' approach to the illicit goods and criminals flocked to their headquarters

A breakthrough for police came after two undercover officers - known as Vinnie and Billy - posed as potential box-holders and found company directors gave only 'lip service' to legal obligations to report any obvious money laundering going on under their noses.



'Intelligence indicated that the depositories operated an anonymous, no-questions-asked service and had acted in ways that compromised investigations,' a police source said.

'The investigation initially sought to establish whether the directors or staff were complicit in assisting criminals wishing to conceal criminal property, benefit and assets... This revealed that a significant proportion of customers were associated with crime.'



Detective Superintendent Mark Ponting, of the Metropolitan Police's economic and specialist crime command, said the 15-month probe disrupted the activities of 32 criminal gangs.

Stash of cash: £122,000 in bank notes were found when police opened one of the boxes at Park Lane

As a result of the operation, police made 146 arrests, 30 of them leading to convictions. Several depositors are now serving jail terms for paedophile offences, money-laundering, drug-dealing and firearms.

' It's been extremely successful, unprecedented and the largest operation against organised crime,' he said.



Woolf, 55, of West Heath Drive, Barnet, north west London, will be sentenced for 14 offences, including money-laundering and possession of a firearm, while Swan, 47, of Hexham Road, Barnet, will be sentenced for seven counts of money-laundering.

Treasure trove for criminals: Illegally obtained identity documents were among the massive cache of items

A third director, Leslie Sieff, 63, from Cricklewood, north west London, has already been fined £1,000 for possessing counterfeit 60,000 US dollars (£36,855) last December.

They were caught in June 2008 when police seized thousands of deposit boxes, ranging from small book-sized boxes to large walk-in safes in a string of west London raids.

This followed 18 months of surveillance and preparation and raids on three safe depositories, two offices and three homes.



The boxes were taken from Park Lane Safe Depository in Park Street, Hampstead Safe Depository in Finchley Road, and Edgware Safe Depository in High Street, Edgware, to a secure location in a heavily-armed convoy.



It took 500 officers 12 days of 24-hour searches to open and examine 6,717 private boxes. In them were an array of illegal goods including firearms, fake passports, crack cocaine, evidence of child abuse, and documentation to assist human traffickers, prompting investigations into the owners of the boxes.



Detectives also discovered three holdalls stuffed with £1.5 million in cash and six suitcases containing a honeycomb-type gold dust valued at £8 million.



Leslie Sieff, seen at Southwark Crown Court, has already been sentenced

Senior officers believe Operation Rize dealt a major blow to serious organised crime networks.

'Already around £13 million has been returned to public coffers, with many more investigations outstanding,' Mr Ponting said.



‘Eventually more than £50 million will be returned to public coffers, while around 900 investigations have been referred to Revenue and Customs.



'The disruption this operation has caused to organised criminal networks has been significant - impacting upon the illegal activities of international jewellery thieves, money launderers, drug dealers, human traffickers and those trading in child pornography.'



Among those convicted in the wake of the haul were Gavin Leon, 45, and Yafet Berhane, 31. Leon was jailed for five years for possession of a firearm after police found cannabis, cocaine, MDMA and a 9mm Glock pistol in a safety deposit box and Berhane was sentenced to five years for money-laundering and crack cocaine.



Asked whether the scale of the operation was worthwhile, Detective Superintendent Mark Ponting said the fact more than £50 million should be returned to public coffers showed it had been a 'sound investment'.

