TWO men behind a GBP2.4m money laundering scam have been jailed.
Zohaib Assad, 26, was sentenced to seven years, while co-accused Mohammad Ahmad, 54, was jailed for six years.
The men, both from Glasgow, had denied the charges but were found guilty by a jury in March after a five-and-a-half week trial.
The case became the first successful prosecution under proceeds of crime laws in Scotland.
A third man, William Gurie, 41, from East Kilbride, walked free from court after he was acquitted on the three charges he faced.
Yesterday, Lord Dawson, sitting at the High Court in Edinburgh, said the two guilty men were involved in a "very nasty line of work".
He told them: "Over the weeks that this trial lasted, it became clear to me that without the services of people like you, serious organised crime would not exist as there would be no realisable profit on the risk."
Pakistani national Assad, of Waukglen Crescent, Darnley, and Ahmad, of Great Western Road, laundered the millions through a legitimate moneytransfer service at the travel agents they ran in the city.
Unknown to them, undercover customs officers had the premises under surveillance and claimed they observed Gurie visiting the duo at Makkah Travel on Kenmure Street, with holdalls stuffed full of cash.
Investigators recovered GBP2,442,318.75 laundered by Assad and Ahmad and deposited in accounts at branches of the National Westminster and Clydesdale banks in Glasgow and at their travel shop.
When police swooped on September 26, 2003, they found a further GBP384,760 at Assad's house and at Makkah Travel.
The pair were also found guilty of transferring GBP2.25m into foreign accounts in Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and China.
The men arrived at the court for sentence almost two hours late for sentence and Lord Dawson demanded an explanation.
He was told that prisoner escort firm Reliance had turned up at 8.55am at Barlinnie to collect the men rather than 7am and had then gone to the sheriff court in Edinburgh rather than the High Court buildings.
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