Gold, girls and getaway cash: BD175,000 laundering ring busted

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

From an ordinary-looking flat, a woman masterminded a money laundering operation that channelled over BD175,000—proceeds from prostitution and human trafficking—through currency exchanges, remittances, and bulk gold purchases.

She and three accomplices were each sentenced to five years in prison and fined BD100,000. Three of the four will also be deported.

Investigators said the ringleader ran the illicit business with cold efficiency, exploiting women while carefully moving funds out of Bahrain. The money trail—masked through jewellery purchases and foreign transfers—was traced back to illegal sex work.

The second defendant transferred BD25,815 to an Asian country and exchanged nearly BD39,000 in foreign currencies. A third handled BD44,000 in similar operations. All financial paths pointed back to the same woman.

A First Lieutenant from the National Financial Intelligence Centre led the investigation. He quietly pieced together the transactions, analysed account patterns and connected the dots between the suspects’ movements and their money.

One defendant admitted she was tasked with overseeing the exploited women, handling client calls, collecting payments, keeping records, and managing currency exchanges. Another said he acted as a driver, picking up envelopes from hotel front desks and making deliveries to exchange shops.

Prosecutors revealed that BD175,557.882 was proven to be the proceeds of human trafficking and prostitution, funnelled through different channels in an attempt to appear legitimate.

The court concluded the group worked knowingly and deliberately to disguise the source of the funds, converting cash into gold bars, jewellery, and foreign currencies to cover their tracks.