A man has pleaded guilty in a New South Wales court to dealing with $4 million in cash, stemming from illegal tobacco sales in Queensland.
Victorian man Malek Alhmedai, 51, was driving a hire car when he was stopped by police at Heatherbrae, north of Newcastle, in December 2024.
Once he was pulled over, officers asked him a simple question.
“Is there anything in the car that you shouldn’t have?”
Alhmedai replied, “maybe $2 million” from his money exchange business in Victoria.
The exchange is included in agreed police facts, tendered in Newcastle District Court yesterday, after he pleaded guilty.
The Victorian money trader told police “he could not leave his money in his shop and takes it with him”.
Police searched the car and found a large amount of cash.
Alhmedai told police he did not count the money and was only guessing the amount he had inside the car.
The cash totalled $4,007,425, with Alhmedai pleading guilty to dealing with property that is the proceeds of crime.
Malek Alhmedai is due to be sentenced in Newcastle District Court in July. (ABC Newcastle: Robert Virtue)
Interstate links
Agreed police facts said Alhmedai and two Brisbane tobacco shops had been under surveillance as part of Project Magnir, a multi-state investigation by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC).
The Commission had been monitoring tobacconists in Burpengary and Strathpine in Queensland.
Both had been raided by Queensland Health in the months prior to Alhmedai’s arrest, with officials seizing tens of thousands of illegal cigarettes.
Police facts said investigators were watching Alhmedai, who had flown from Melbourne to Brisbane at 6:46 am on December 20, 2024.
Once in Brisbane he hired a car, which was loaded with the cash, before his trip south led to his arrest.
Malek Alhmedai has pleaded guilty to dealing with millions of dollars derived from illegal tobacco sales. (ABC South East SA: Josh Brine)
Money trail
The police facts said once the money was seized, police conducted further investigations.
“During the counting process it was identified that a large number of $50 notes appeared to be newly issued and were in sequential order.”
“The Reserve Bank of Australia reviewed the serial numbers of the money and confirmed that these notes had been issued to the cash-in-transit company Armaguard on 26 November 2024.”
The police facts said “Armaguard identified they had made the cash deliveries to a businesses associated with the sale of tobacco.”
The court was told Alhmedai is an Iraqi national and holds permanent residency in Australia.
He had no criminal record in either Australia or Iraq.
Alhmedai remains on bail and is due to be sentenced on July 3.