£1m courier owed gang for son’s medical bills

Serwan Mahmoud arrived in the UK in 2003, having fled the war in his home country of Iraq

A man who used his taxi to courier £1m of criminal money destined for Iran said he was repaying a gang that paid for his son's medical treatment.

Serwan Mahmoud, 43, was sentenced to four years and two months in prison after pleading guilty to transferring criminal property.

He told officers they would find a huge amount of cash in his taxi when they pulled him over on the M4 near Cardiff - they found £76,000 stuffed in the boot, two iPhones and £450 elsewhere in the car.

Prosecutor Clare Wilks said Mahmoud turned to crime after his son Adam was diagnosed with a brain tumour before he died at the age of six.

Merthyr Crown Court heard how the criminal gang agreed to help fund the treatment for his son and, to pay back the favour, Mahmoud helped drive cash around the UK.

Following a search at his home, officers found £7,000 in cash in a carrier bag hidden in a wardrobe and $1,800 in a child’s bedroom, along with various other items.

Mahmoud, from Derby, told police he believed his actions were legitimate and this was the first time he had been involved in crime.

However, analysis of the phones showed regular transfers of large amounts across the UK.

The court heard Mahmoud made "quick turnaround" journeys to London, Newcastle, Southampton and Manchester and was travelling on the M4 to Cardiff to collect money when he was stopped by Gwent Police.

Ms Wilks said Mahmoud "must have been very trusted to have the volume of money he had on him when police stopped him".

The money is understood to have been sent to Iran with the group sending money at an inflated exchange rate.

Ms Wilks told the court the "organised" group was charging £86 for $100 - making a profit of £4 to £5 per $100.

The analysis of the data was in excess of £1m.

Police found $1,800 in a child's bedroom at Mahmoud's home

Amelia Pike, defending, said Mahmoud’s role as a courier performed "a limited function under direction".

She said he moved to the UK in 2003 to escape the war in his home country of Iraq, and now had a British passport.

She described him as a "hard-working man" who worked for many years as a chef before becoming a taxi driver in 2018.

He has been married to his wife for 14 years and the couple had two children, but their eldest son Adam died in 2023.

Ms Pike said the loss of his son had had a "significant impact" on Mahmoud’s mental health and "placed him in a vulnerable position".

She said he had been exploited and "thought it was legitimate until the quantity of cash became larger and larger" - which he then chose to ignore.

Mahmoud was "very sorry for his conduct" and "ashamed" of his actions, as well as the fact he was not able to be emotionally available for his wife after Adam died.

His family have since moved away from the area "to cut ties from the criminal gang who had exploited Mr Mahmoud", Ms Pike added.

Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke said Mahmoud had no previous convictions and was "a man of previous good character", accepting that he was remorseful.

However, she said being a cash courier for the group made him "an essential part of the operation".