GEIS-新闻详情

Kim Kardashian wannabe, 30, jailed for ￡5m money smuggling after she was caught with cash-loaded suitcases at Heathrow

2021-07-27 00:00:00.0 太阳报-英国新闻原网页

A KIM Kardashian wannabe has been jailed for trying to smuggle ￡5million of cash-loaded suitcases through Heathrow airport.

Tara Hanlon, 30, was arrested with vacuum-packed wads of notes covered in coffee in her luggage while trying to board a flight to Dubai in October last year.

Tara Hanlon, 30, was busted smuggling ￡5m in cash-loaded suitcases through Heathrow airport Credit: PA 6

The young Brit boasted of the 'perfect life' as a cash mule Credit: Ben Lack 6

One of the suitcases border force officers found on Hanlon Credit: PA

The Kardashian lookalike was found with ￡1.94M in five separate suitcases.

She was jailed for two years and 10 months for her involvement in the smuggling ring on Monday.

Hanlon had already admitted to smuggling millions of pounds out of the country during July and August last year.

She earned ￡3,000 for each trip she made, Isleworth Crown Court heard.

CASH & CARRY

Hanlon was acting on orders from Michelle Clerk, who she met four years earlier in Leeds, but lived in Dubai.

Clerk told her to set up a company for her hairdressing work so an accountant could "clean her money up," the court heard.

Messages found on Hanlon's phone showed she was discussing recruiting a man called Liam to the scheme with Clerk.

She said: "I'm thinking Liam will definitely be up for it.

"Everyone else I know has kids or has a big mouth. He wouldn't want to miss out on that much money."

Hanlon bragged in one message "3 big ones...with this wage and the next my debts go bye".

Other messages indicated she was looking to recruit other couriers, referring to the job as a "perfect life a few days in the sun and a few at home".

At one point, she sent a friend footage of her boasting about how much money she had spent during a glitzy foreign holiday.

CAUGHT IN THE ACT

Detailing her arrest on October 3 last year, prosecutor Nathan Resiah said: "She was stopped by a customs official who spoke to her.

"She said it was a girls' trip and she had five bags because she couldn't decide what to wear.

"She was asked if she had any cash, and said: 'No, none.'

"Her luggage contained large sums of cash which was covered in coffee powder."

Judge Karen Holt told Hanlon: "It is not difficult, if you have got suitcases full of money, you're not packing anything, and being flown over to Dubai, to realise what is going on.

"When stopped, by customs officials, you said you didn't have any cash.

"That was the start of a number of lies, and clearly the officer didn't accept what you said.

"You made a very detailed statement after your arrest, although much of it wasn't true."

The 30-year-old from Middleton, Leeds, admitted one count of conspiring to remove criminal property, three counts of removing criminal property and one of attempting to remove criminal property.

Investigators at the National Crime Agency had said at the time the cash haul was "the largest such detection at the border so far in 2020".

The court heard that Hanlon moved more than ￡3m out of country last year Credit: PA 6

Hanlon living the high life with friends Credit: Ben Lack 6

Hanlon's grandmother said she wanted to look like Kim Kardashian (pictured) Credit: Instagram