Interpol issues second-ever silver notice for UK crime agency to trace £8.5m in laundered assets

The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) issued its second-ever silver notice on behalf of the UK on April 11. This will allow the UK National Crime Agency (NCA) to obtain information from overseas in its efforts to track down more than £8.5 million of assets laundered by a London-based fraudster.

Interpol notices are part of its cross-border alert system for law enforcement agencies to share information on wanted persons. The current notices are colour-coded red, yellow, blue, black, green, orange and purple, plus the UN Security Council special notice regarding sanctioned individuals and entities.

A silver notice, launched for a pilot phase on January 10, 2025, is designed to facilitate information sharing on cross-border assets linked to fraud, corruption, drug trafficking and other serious offences. The first such notice was issued on behalf of the Italian authorities.

Speaking at the Blockchain Intelligence Forum on April 10, Interpol criminal intelligence analyst Peter Whitton explained: “This [silver notice] is still a police-to-police communication resource, but it is also relevant for all virtual assets. It focuses on obtaining information to support ongoing investigations.

“National central bureaus (NCBs) — which are a key point of contact in the Interpol network — are playing the liaison role, [acting as] the centralised point, in maintaining the role of compliance and tracking; [meanwhile] the respective domestic agencies are the ones who are acting on those requests, initiating, responding and doing their checks,” he added.

The pilot phase will run until November 2025, with the potential to expand the silver notice system from the first 52 countries to 196 Interpol member states.

UK silver notice

The NCA has been granted its silver notice by Interpol to obtain information on laundered assets linked to Anopkumar Maudhoo, a convicted fraudster from Wapping, London.

Maudhoo ran a “large-scale conveyancing fraud” offering investment opportunities on repossessed properties or land redevelopments that he had no legal right to sell. He conducted around 75 fraudulent sales of properties in London, Hertfordshire and Essex between 2021 and 2024, before being sentenced to prison on June 30. Maudhoo plead guilty to 76 offences at Southwark Crown Court, following an investigation by the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit (ERSOU).

To date, UK authorities have recover laundered assets worth more than £8.5 million, including 19 high-value cars, a speedboat and number plates. The assets will be sold to compensate victims using the UK’s Proceeds of Crime Act.

Now the case has silver notice status, an additional 51 national crime agencies could request information on assets linked to Maudhoo’s illicit activities.

Global cooperation

Interpolʼs silver notice offers a promising solution for cross-border financial crime, said Rachael Herbert, deputy director of the National Economic Crime Centre, in a statement. “By targeting the illegal profits of criminal networks and working collaboratively with partners across the world through the NCA-housed Interpol National Central Bureau, we are disrupting their operations.”

She added: “Interpol’s suite of notices and diffusions contribute to our mission of protecting the public from serious and organised crime, which is nearly always transnational in nature.”

Separately, UK fraud minister Lord Hanson announced the government was stepping up its strategy to tackle fraud with international cooperation. “With estimates finding that 70% of fraud now includes an international element, global co-operation will be key to tackling this growing issue,” he said.

“Fraud is an increasingly international enterprise run by some of the most appalling criminal gangs operating in the world today. That’s why we are determined to work with global partners to build a united front to tackle these criminal networks head-on, wherever they are based.”

In December, Hanson said that the government was considering a ‘carrot and stickʼ approach to gaining co-operation on fraud from certain unnamed countries, which he said were responsible for the majority of fraud perpetrated on UK citizens.

Further details on how international co-operation would work will be set out in the government’s five-year fraud strategy to be published later this year.