The Sultan was inadvertently involved in a Met Police car smuggling probe

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The Sultan became embroiled in an international multimillion pound probe into the export of stolen performance cars from the UK to the Far East after members of his staff unwittingly purchased the vehicles. Details of the Sultan’s involvement were revealed by a former intelligence officer. The revelations come as the sultan is propelled into the headlines over his hardline stance on homosexuals who could now be stoned to death. The former Met Police detective sergeant, who uses the pseudonym Frank Matthews, said: “A crime syndicate connected to corrupt cops was supplying the sultan with stolen Mercedes cars and his personal Bentley was a stolen ‘ringer’. I worked covertly on the case.” Mr Matthews said a major East End gang was making millions in the early 1990s due to there being no franchises for Mercedes and other performance cars in the Far East at the time.

I was getting fed this information from sources in the criminal underworld about how they got the vehicles out there and that the gang were laughing their heads off at the Sultan of Brunei being driven around in a ‘ringed’ Bentley. The King of Malaysi Frank Matthews

The vehicles were first sent to Malaysia and also ended up in the ownership of royalty there. He said: “I was getting fed this information from sources in the criminal underworld about how they got the vehicles out there and that the gang were laughing their heads off at the Sultan of Brunei being driven around in a ‘ringed’ Bentley. The King of Malaysia also received a ringer.” It is understood members of royalty in Malaysia and Brunei were oblivious of the crime but a team from the Met Police car squad established the facts. Mr Matthews said: “This was a major criminal enterprise. The East End gang had criminal contacts in Malaysia who helped them get the stolen vehicles in and they were often paid in drugs then smuggled back into the UK.”