Dundee 'cuckoo smurfing' scam man ordered to pay £75,000

A man who was jailed for his role in a money laundering scam known as "cuckoo smurfing" will have to hand over £75,150 to prosecutors.

Muhammed Hameed was ordered to pay the money under the proceeds of crime legislation following a court hearing.

The 32-year-old was jailed for five-and-a-half years earlier this year along with his two accomplices.

The trio were the first in Scotland to be convicted of the money laundering scam after being caught in Dundee.

The scam involves replacing legitimate cash intended for bank transfers overseas with dirty money.

It is known as "cuckoo smurfing" because those involved pay sums of money into accounts of other people who are not associated with the criminal activity.

The three men - shopkeeper Hameed, his uncle Saleem Shikari and worker Shahid Aslam - were caught by a police investigation called Operation Confab.

Officers found them at Hameed's flat in Dundee with a money counter and a plastic bag containing £75,000.

The men were found to have hidden more than £700,000 from the authorities. All three pled guilty to the charges in August.

At the High Court in Edinburgh, judge Lord Burns was told by advocate depute Barry Divers that prosecutors and defence lawyers had agreed that Mr Hameed should hand over £75,150.

Mr Divers also told the court that prosecutors were no longer pursuing Mr Shikari and Mr Aslam.

Lord Burns ordered that Hameed should pay the sum over to clerks at Glasgow Sheriff Court within six months.