Did A £266m Gold Plot Involve London While Fugitive Bosses Fled Overseas?

Two operatives have been sentenced at Leeds Crown Court for their roles in a massive £266 million dirty cash conspiracy uncovered by West Yorkshire Police’s Economic Crime Unit, amid an ongoing international police manhunt for three fugitive ringleaders on the run abroad.

Following a protracted legal battle, 51-year-old Baqa Haider of Bob Marley Way, Lambeth, London, received a six-year custodial sentence, while 45-year-old Nathan Rivers, 45, of Rathmell Road, Leeds, was handed a 27-month sentence suspended for two years alongside a strict electronic curfew. Both individuals served as key cogs in a nationwide operation designed to convert illicit street money into untraceable precious metals.

While Haider and Rivers faced justice in the dock, detectives from West Yorkshire Police are intensifying an international manhunt for three core figures convicted and sentenced in their absence:

• Gregory Frankel: Former Fowler Oldfield director; sentenced to 11 years and eight months.
• Arjun Babber: Sentenced to 11 years imprisonment.
• Haroon Rashid: Handed a 10-year prison sentence.

All three failed to attend their trials and are believed to have fled the United Kingdom. Extradition proceedings and cross-border inquiries remain active to bring them back to serve their combined 32-plus years of prison time.

Ramona Senior, who led the investigation as head of the West Yorkshire Police Economic Crime Unit, urged the public to assist:

 “We remain absolutely determined to do everything we can to ensure these men are found and returned to the UK to serve their sentences. They will never be forgotten about, and the longer they stay at large only delays them starting to serve the sentences rightly imposed on them for this serious and significant crime.”

The criminal enterprise, dismantled after coordinated police raids, revolved around Fowler Oldfield Ltd, a long-established scrap jewellery and bullion dealer in Bradford. A nationwide web of couriers systematically hauled holdalls and bin liners stuffed with illicit street cash directly to the facility, processing up to £1.7 million per day at peak velocity.

The dirty revenue was deposited into commercial banking facilities and converted into high-purity gold bullion, which was then exported to Dubai using fabricated commercial invoices. In tandem, regional detectives exposed Pure Nines Ltd in London's jewellery district of Hatton Garden, discovering the site operated primarily as a fortified currency counting house rather than a legitimate dealer.

The unprecedented scheme shook the British banking sector, leading to a landmark £264.8 million fine against NatWest in December 2021 for anti-money laundering compliance failures tied to Fowler Oldfield accounts.

Crown prosecutors have launched formal confiscation proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. Forensic financial investigators are actively executing international tracing orders to seize overseas real estate, luxury assets, and illicit financial instruments tied to the fugitive network.