City pensioner is jailed and told to pay up for money laundering role

FAILURE TO RETURN ILL-GOTTEN GAINS WILL SEE 15-MONTH PRISON SENTENCE EXTENDED BY YEAR

- By DYLAN HAYWARD

A LEICESTER pensioner who worked as a cash courier for a sophisticated money laundering operation has been jailed for 15 months.

Avtar Nijjer, 73, deposited cash on behalf of the scheme’s orchestrator over a yearlong period, a court has heard.

Nijjer, pictured, will have to pay back almost £140,000 in ill-gotten gains from his role in the criminal operation - or face further jail time.

The operation was unravelled after West Midlands Police seized £30,000 in cash in Alum Rock, Birmingham, in 2016, triggering a complex investigation by the Regional Economic Crime Unit, West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit and HMRC.

Nijjer was found to be working alongside Gurmeet Handa, a Birmingham man from Little Aston.