Hold your breath! British authorities have cracked wide open a billion-dollar money laundering network that used a secret Kyrgyz bank to help Russia sneak past Western sanctions and funnel cash toward the Ukraine war. The National Crime Agency (NCA) announced this explosive discovery on Friday. This huge underground web spread across at least 28 UK towns and cities, employing hundreds of couriers to shift piles of dirty money from crime rackets like drug and gun trafficking. The NCA revealed how the gang quickly swapped this black cash into cryptocurrency, making it fly across the globe at lightning speed and hidden under layers of secrecy. This thrilling hunt is part of the UK-led Operation Destabilise, an international busting effort that has now arrested 128 suspects and grabbed more than £25 million just in Britain. In the last year alone, 45 more alleged money launderers were caught, with £5.1 million seized. Thanks to intelligence from the UK, partners abroad chopped off $24 million and €2.6 million from linked operations. At the beating heart of this dirty money system are two Russian-speaking gangs, Smart and TGR. The NCA said these groups play starring roles moving illegal cash for transnational crime rings involved in drugs, cybercrime, and guns — while helping Russian clients sneak investments into Britain, dodging legal rules. Sal Melki, the NCA’s deputy director for economic crime, said, “For the first time, we are tying … drugs trades in our community all the way through to the highest levels of organised crime, geopolitics, sanctions evasion, the Russian industrial, military complex and state-linked activity.” That’s a jaw-dropping connection! Inside the UK, couriers drove across cities collecting cash bags and swapping them for crypto – sometimes in motorway car parks. The NCA warned young hopeful money mules with a public campaign in English and Russian: “For a few hundred pounds, there is a very good chance you could be going to prison for over five years,” Melki said. “Easy money leads to hard time.” One secret bombshell from Operation Destabilise’s latest phase: the discovery of the Kyrgyz Keremet Bank’s role. Altair Holding SA, connected to TGR boss George Rossi, secretly bought this bank on Christmas Day 2024. Keremet then helped move money for Promsvyazbank (PSB), a Russian state bank supporting Russia’s military and defense firms. The US Treasury had already accused Keremet of backing Kremlin sanctions evasion. This rare, clear chain links street-level UK crime directly to Russia’s war machine. Melki said proudly, “The NCA has inflicted a serious wound on these organisations.” But he warned more shadows lurk and called for grinding pressure with arrests, prosecutions, and sanctions to continue. Even after dozens of arrests and millions seized, these cunning networks remain a big threat. The game of money, power, and secret state support is far from over. Expect Operation Destabilise to roar back again in this explosive shadow war!(With inputs from AFP)