|
Bridgeburner
Not spiritual at all.




Registered: 09/16/06
Posts: 20,010
|
City beauty salon at centre of drug money laundering inquiry
#7501005 - 10/09/07 09:54 AM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
|
|
http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=1613932007
A BEAUTY salon in Leith is at the centre of an investigation into money laundering after its Vietnamese owner was convicted of running a cannabis factory.
Detectives are probing Sunset Nails on Leith Walk after Manh Tuan Nguyen admitted growing tens of thousands of pounds worth of the strongest type of the drug, known as skunk.
Nguyen, 26, is said to be a senior figure in London's drug trade and is believed to have funnelled cash generated from his criminal activities through the business in a bid to hide its source.
He is facing prison after pleading guilty at Woolwich Crown Court last week to conspiracy to produce skunk on a large scale.
Officers from the Metropolitan Police had been investigating Nguyen for almost two years and raided Sunset Nails on several occasions.
The police team believe Nguyen used the small Edinburgh shop to launder profits from his drug growing by pretending it came from legitimate customers. Although they came away empty-handed during the raids, the force's inquires remain ongoing.
Officers discovered hundreds of cannabis plants, which could produce £70,000 worth of the drug, during a raid on a property in Kent owned by Nguyen.
His conviction followed an 18-month UK-wide investigation into Vietnamese gangs who, according to police sources in London, control almost the whole supply of skunk in the country.
Vietnamese-run nail bars in London are used to hide the multi-million pound profits reaped by the gangs, leading to suspicions that the salon in the Capital was being used for the same purpose.
Today, an Asian receptionist at the business confirmed Nguyen was still its owner but she had not seen him for "a few years".
A Metropolitan Police source close to the investigation said officers were delighted to secure a conviction against Nguyen, who it is thought has extensive family links in Edinburgh.
The source said: "He is certainly quite high up in that scene and we spent some time trying to track him down and get the conviction. The judge told him at court when he next came back he would be looking at significant jail time.
"When the police did raid [Sunset Nails] we found nothing, but it is still being investigated.
"The vast majority of nail bars in London are a front for laundering proceeds from all the cannabis factories like the one in Kent."
Nguyen's address was given as Ryan Close, London, though he was also linked to two flat addresses in Albert Street, Leith, only a few minutes away from his nail bar.
The receptionist at Sunset Nails said that Mr Nguyen had not visited the salon for a few years. She said: "He's not been here in Edinburgh. I think he is still in London."
A spokeswoman for Woolwich Crown Court said: "Manh Tuan Nguyen pled guilty to charges of cultivating cannabis and is due for sentencing on October 31."
--------------------
|
Visionary Tools



Registered: 06/23/07
Posts: 7,953
Last seen: 1 year, 7 months
|
Re: City beauty salon at centre of drug money laundering inquiry [Re: Bridgeburner]
#7501426 - 10/09/07 12:01 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Detectives are probing Sunset Nails on Leith Walk after Manh Tuan Nguyen admitted growing tens of thousands of pounds worth of the strongest type of the drug, known as skunk.
Fuck off it is!
I'll laugh if they make skunk a class A substance, it'd show how blithely unaware they are of what is good and what is great bud.
--------------------
|
moon_glue
Orwell's Post9/11 Era



Registered: 01/20/07
Posts: 2,264
Loc: Earth, today...
Last seen: 8 years, 10 months
|
Re: City beauty salon at centre of drug money laundering inquiry [Re: Visionary Tools]
#7502340 - 10/09/07 05:37 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
|
|
skunk is a class seriuos drug folks, however marijuana is okay.
|
|