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A suburban railway station
in Sydney's west.

Commuters head to
their platforms

oblivious to the undercover

police who are
taking up positions

throughout the station.

In this particular case we got
some information, in advance,

that a meeting was
going to occur between

those involved in the
drug supply side,

and those involved in the
money laundering side

and so we had information
that at that place there

would be a transaction,
an exchange of cash.

The man NSW Police were
watching is a drug dealer.

He was at Clyde to hand
over $200,000 in cash

to a money-launderer
he's never met before.

Money laundering is the
backbone of organised crime.

Money laundering is designed
to hide proceeds of

crime, and the techniques
that are used are vast.

(music)

CCTV captured the meeting.

The drug dealer and the
money mule had a clever

method to confirm each
other's identity.

One has a bank note
and the other has

a photograph of its
serial number.

They exchanged a token, which in

this particular
case was a $5 note.

That was checked against
the blackberry message,

which the other party had
to make sure that it

matched, and then the
two of them, the males,

walked off together to
take part in the exchange.

Shortly after that
they were arrested.

The arrests led police
to a safehouse in this

building alongside
Sydney's Darling Harbour.

It was where a major
drug syndicate

was storing a large supply of

ice and ecstasy and millions of
dollars waiting to be laundered.

What we found was $4,000,000 in
cash, 10 or 12 kilos of ice.

So the $200,000 is a small
percentage of that.

The money mule was Ali Naderi, a
41-year-old from Afghanistan.

He was a bit player in a massive

international
laundering operation

that was helping
wash the profits

of Australian organised crime.

We're talking about the upper

echelons of organised
crime here.

We're not talking about
opportunistic crime, we're

not talking about back
yard sort of operators.

This is high volume,
very serious

trans-national organised

crime networks that are well
established and span the globe.

There's no doubt
hundreds of millions was

going from Australia
through that network.

And there's also no doubt that
worldwide that network was

responsible for billions of
dollars of money laundering.

The money laundering
operation was

run by this man Altaf Khanani,

a Pakistani criminal who had
evaded capture for decades.

Khanani was a bad dude in the in
the money laundering business.

I think just by the
sheer volume of

amount of money he
was able to move,

the network that he built ah
on six different continents,

created an air about him
that he was an untouchable,

he was somebody that could not
be grabbed by law enforcement.

I always kind of liken him
to a James Bond villain.

He fits the mould.

He has a world-wide network,

moves billions of dollars, has
all of this at his disposal,

is the leader of a
transnational organisation,

and is someone that the
world looks as a target.

From his base in
the Middle East,

Altaf Khanani laundered drug

money for some of Mexico's most
dangerous cocaine cartels.

(music and sirens)

He also moved money
for terrorist

groups responsible
for attacks in

Mumbai in 1993 and in 2008 which

together killed more
than 400 people.

He laundered money for
Hezbollah, the Taliban

and other extremist groups
including Al Qaeda.

He was working and had
moved money for Hezbollah,

ah the Taliban, Dawood
Ibraham and many others

that ah obviously are
very, very bad people.

This guy was laundering
money for anybody

and everybody, he
didn't care why.

Altaf Khanani was the number
one international controller

as far as organised
crime and terrorist

funding was in the
world at that time,

and we knew that he was causing

significant impact on
multiple countries

throughout the world, and that's
why we had to take some action.

(tense music)

This is where the
Australian operation

to capture Khanani started.

The Australian Criminal
Intelligence Commission, a

secretive agency which targets
high-level criminals.

It began as an investigation
into unusual international money

transfers from small suburban

operators in Sydney
and Melbourne.

It was when we started to
investigate that and we

started to seize money and
we started to make arrests

that we then started
to go further

up the tree and understand who

was behind organising
these contracts

and the movement of money.

That's when time and time
again Altaf Khanani came up.

As the extent of Altaf Khanani's
network emerged, Richard Grant

ran the name past
his counterparts

in the United States.

We realised that the Drug
Enforcement Administration

had an enormous amount of
intelligence on Khanani.

The DEA had a significant
amount of the jigsaw.

(hip-hop beat)

For years the frontline
in America's

long war on drugs
was here in Miami.

Basically, it's
you against them,

can you get them
to make a mistake

so that you can
collect the evidence

necessary to get a prosecution.

It's also home to a
specialist team of agents

working for the US Drug
Enforcement Administration.

Trying to outwit them, you know,
usually we have the advantage

'cause we know we
are doing it you

know, we know what they want.

So, a phone call
from the Aussies,

we're discussing the case

and during those conversations
it was mentioned that

there was a target
Altaf Khanani who was

a large scale money
laundering target that

Australia was looking at
for a for quite some time

and they were asking if
we would be interested

in assisting in them and
their investigation.

When I heard the name and it

registered and I was
like absolutely,

we're you know of course
we're going to do it.

(music)

Rob Cassitta is head of
the DEA's Group 44 which

conducts covert drug
investigations across the globe.

We don't say no you know we're
Group 44 we just don't say no.

We got outstanding agents in the

group, outstanding
investigators.

And their passion to
go after the biggest

and baddest violators
in the world.

John Clayton, a Group 44
special agent, spent years

targeting cocaine suppliers
across South America.

The Drug Enforcement
Administration

is an organisation
that targets the

top criminals in the drug trade

when you target the
source countries and

the main bosses in
these organisations,

you basically you dismantle
those organisations 'cause when

you, when you cut the head
off a snake, the snake dies.

The DEA agents agreed to a joint

operation targeting
Altaf Khanani.

We go after the top tier
criminals and in this

case Altaf Khanani was
a top tier criminal

who dealt with
organisations that ah

their business is
death and destruction

and he assisted
them in completing

those, those jobs on
a day to day basis,

and he's a very, a
very dangerous man.

They had decided on
Altaf Khanani as a

target, now they needed
a plan to get him.

(music)

The intelligence trail
started here in

Karachi, where
Khanani's family had

long been notorious
for street-level

gambling schemes and
currency trading.

It's in this trade on foreign
currency that actually

their the ah their meteoric
rise began to happen.

Up until then, they had

been middling and
two-bit players

ah competing with
dozens and dozens of others

ah sort of where you
know hawking their

wares by shouting
at ah at passers-by

on the street and occasionally
scoring a big um a

big client in the form
of perhaps a government

servant or a rich
businessman who would need

to whiten a large of
amount of black money.

(road noise)

Journalist Khurram Husain has

followed Altaf
Khanani for years.

He says that by the mid-2000s
Khanani and his associates were

running one of the biggest
currency exchanges in Pakistan.

A company called Khanani
and Kalia International.

From any country to any country,

if you wanted to
move money without

ah leaving either a trace,

without having your
name attached to that

money, or giving
that money the aura

of legitimately earned
money these were

the people who would
do it for you.

Khanani made his
money by doing the

vast volume ah and
charging commission.

His commissions were low,

relatively low,
ah three percent.

And I guess they went up as
high as eight, nine, ten,

eleven, depending on difficulty
in moving the funds.

(road noise)

From his base in Karachi's

financial district,
Altaf Khanani

exploited an ancient money
transfer system called Hawala.

It's the first banking
system where used

predominantly in the Middle
Eastern countries and

you'd be able to
walk into one place

ah to an individual who would

keep a ledger and
you would be able

to drop money off
to that person,

and he would then be
able to get message

or word back in the
old days to another

individual who kept another
set of ledgers and

pay a person for you
over great distances.

It's an ancient system
still in use today and

it's quite- it's
probably one of the most

effective ways of evading
law enforcement,

because there's really
not a paper trail.

Khanani capitalised on an
extraordinary gift for numbers.

He had uncanny ability
to recall information

ah he could recall phone
numbers from memory when asked

ah he um knew bank
account numbers, business

names and again he had
several businesses an-and

ah bank accounts and he
could he could recall from

memory these numbers which
was pretty impressive.

The exchange company
became a front

for an international
money laundry

which surfaced now
and then in police

investigations
worldwide including in

Birmingham, England
where this cash

drop was caught on
police surveillance.

Khanani was washing a
staggering volume of money.

We would certainly allege that
the Altaf Khanani network were

turning over between 14 and 16

billion dollars US
annually a year.

So that sort of gives you
the scale of the enterprise

globally that the reach that
Altaf Khanani's network had.

Senior Government
servants who may have

accumulated large
amounts of money

ah as ah taken as
bribes or kickbacks in

various schemes,
rich businessmen who

would have under-invoiced
and over-invoiced

their imports and their exports.

Drug dealers who
would need to export

drugs from here and then bring

their money back but show it as

legitimate income ah
here in Pakistan.

All manner of money
that dare not speak

its name, and yet needs
to cross a ah an

international boundary,
these were the

people who could handle
that money for you.

And they could do it so expertly
that no regulatory authority in

the world would
be able to detect

the movement of that money.

(music and road noise)

In 2008 the Khanani operation
almost came to a halt after

dramatic raids in Pakistan and
the arrest of his twin brother.

But the court case collapsed.

It's worth remembering
that some of

the most richest
and most powerful

people in Pakistan
and institutions

in Pakistan ah were
the clients of KKI.

There was any number
of very powerful

individuals who did
not want the light of

day to be shone into
this racket for fear

of their own identities
being revealed.

And a very, very
large and a very

wide spectrum of very powerful

interests mobilised in order to
try and protect these people.

There's an allegation
that a bribe was paid,

but certainly some
of the legislation

perhaps wasn't as strong as what

it is today, and there's an

allegation of political
interference.

Suffice to say that those
charges didn't proceed.

(music)

Altaf Khanani moved his
operation to Dubai,

a notorious bolt-hole
for organised crime.

He set up shop there which was
basically his headquarters where

he operated and um sat over his
ah money laundering empire.

Dubai is a black
hole for criminals

and ah especially in the

money world, so it makes it
very easy to hide money there.

From this corporate office
Altaf Khanani laundered dirty

money from across the
globe, including Australia.

Australia Khanani had
a client base ranging

from outlaw motorcycle
gangs, such as the

Comancheros, um, all
the way to Lebanese

ah transnational groups
such as Hezbollah.

It was very diverse
because um he

was able to establish
a network of

associates where, and
he was reliable,

and he was fairly
quick, so all comers

ah who wanted their
money moved ended

up hearing about
him or getting to

him, even sometimes
they didn't know who

he was they were
using his network.

Police believed
that almost all of

the Middle Eastern
organised crime

profits generated
in Australia were

laundered by Altaf
Khanani's network.

There was no-one else to go to.

And the other people that they
did go to usually were an

associate of his which he would
work in some way or another.

Granted there are several
other players out there

on the stage but Khanani
by far was the biggest.

Open the door!

Search warrant!

Outlaw bikies in
Australia including

the Lone Wolves were
a major client.

They are involved in
large amounts of drugs.

Drug trafficking,
drug importation,

and involved in very large

amounts of money laundering,
and using the money laundering

system not just to facilitate
purchase of drugs, but also to

launder the funds back into
assets in Australia and abroad.

And when you say
large, give me an

idea of how large we're talking.

Hundreds of millions of dollars.

Yeah Altaf Khanani had clients
in Australia that again,

yeah would range from
outlaw motor cycle gangs

ah to people identified as
being linked to extremists,

so he you know in Australia
was like all over the world,

he didn't care where the money
came from who it was for or why

they needed it cleaned, he was
more than willing to do that.

(music)

The extent of Altaf
Khanani's operations

in Australia were
becoming clear in

2013 when a courier for
the Mexican Sinaloa

drug cartel flew
into the country.

In October 2013, through
looking at the work of Khanani

we identified a Mexican by
the name of Onix Mendoza

who had been sent over by
one of the Mexican cartels

to move the money on their
behalf for moving ice.

He came to collect
drug gang profits and

wash them through
Khanani's network.

They were then using a
Vietnamese group to go around

and launder that money,
and pick up the money.

An AFP operation
followed Onix Mendoza to

a quiet street in
Ringwood, Melbourne.

Police watched as he
met an Indian man who

was working for the
Altaf Khanani network.

Onix Mendoza handed
him a suitcase

from the boot of his car.

And when the Indian man
was arrested police found

it contained half a
million dollars in cash.

Khanani's network ah was,

it was kind of compartmentalised
in a manner that

you know not everybody
knew everybody so

one person would be
used as a cut-out

who would deal directly
with Altaf Khanani

and then that person would
reach out to someone

in whatever country the
money was that needed to

be moved and that
individual didn't

know who Altaf Khanani
was directly,

allowing him to
do these business

transactions and
remain anonymous.

(music)

A week later police watched
as Onix Mendoza met

an Italian man in the
middle of Melbourne's CBD.

The man had flown into Melbourne
only 48 hours earlier.

They used the signature method
to recognise each other.

They used the serial numbers
on an Australian five

dollar note, and those serial
numbers would be their

introduction point to
actually confirm that that

transaction is legitimate
between those two parties.

(music)

The AFP swooped again, arresting
Onix Mendoza and the Italian.

Along with another
$500,000 they also found

incriminating text messages
on the Italian man's phone.

A day later he replied, denying
he was stealing the money.

He said he was...

This is an interesting case
because by following the money

and working through the
Khanani network we identified

Italian organised crime out
of the US, Indian money

launderers, Vietnamese
individuals, and Mexicans.

Altaf Khanani was a
very bad guy and

he dealt with some
very bad people

who did a lotta harm in this
world um so he a-a again,

he had contacts in
ah Lebanon ah Iran,

South America, Central
America, Australia

and these were not your typical
businessmen, these were people

involved in all sorts of things,
weapons trafficking, drug

trafficking, terrorism finance
and so these were, these were

the things that concerned
us the most about this guy.

Richard Grant and
the Australians

also persuaded the
UK, Canada and

New Zealand to assist
in the operation

to bring down Altaf Khanani.

It was the first time the Five
Eyes intelligence network

was mobilised against an
organised crime target.

Khanani had been identified as a

significant risk by a
number of different

organisations, and they'd done

their best to try
and take him on.

It was only when we moved
forward with the work that we

did with the Five Eyes that
we started to get the whole,

five countries all working
together that you leverage off

each other and it takes a
network to defeat a network.

We'd been talking
with the Australians,

we'd got some new
intelligence...

The operation itself would
be run by the DEA in Miami.

This is the business
in Dubai that Altaf

Khanani is operating out of,
it's Al Zarooni exchange.

The plan was for an elaborate
sting, using covert operatives.

We have the undercovers
being briefed to

make contact with Altaf
Khanani directly.

The plan was to infiltrate
a DEA undercover agent

into the Khanani
organisation, to establish

ourselves as the highest
traffickers or money

launderers that we can appear
to be to Altaf Khanani.

It was then to develop the
evidence that we would

then be able to indict him
in the United States.

We were posing as
drug traffickers

and we had money to be laundered

and we solicited Altaf Khanani
to launder our money for us

and you know greed is a powerful
tool and any time someone can

make money in this world
they'll jump at the chance.

Alright, let's give these guys a

call and I'll show
you real quick.

Undercover agents
across the world

were organised to
set up a fictitious

drug syndicate which
would contract

Khanani to launder its cash.

What time is it over
there did you say?

It's like 7am.
-7am.

It was Australia's ability
to infiltrate Khanani's

network which was
critical to the plan.

I had no scepticism that the
Aussies would be able to

deliver it because they
showed us right off the bat,

from the start of the

investigation, that
they had a way

to ah penetrate the organisation
and um working with

us and our resources um we
knew from day one that, at

least to my mind, that this
was going to be successful.

To look like real drug
traffickers, they

needed a substantial
amount of cash to launder

into Khanani's network
and that's where the

Australian taxpayer
came into the picture.

Two federal law enforcement
agencies put up the money.

This was one of the more

interesting parts
of the strategy

is then going back to our
CEO and pitching to him

that we needed a quarter
of a million dollars,

and we were going to give it to

somebody that we
really didn't know,

with the hope and the
promise that he would

deliver that money
into another country.

So, most police forces would
baulk at the fact that you'll

lose $250,000 because that's
the risk that we were taking.

Have to say that our CEO had
the view that we needed

to be lawfully audacious
and that's what we did.

So, we found $250,000
in the budget

and fortunately at the time that

we were doing that
the Australian

Federal Police had come onboard.

The AFP kicked in
another $1 million.

The million dollars
that was provided

by way of the Australian
Federal Police

was actually utilised
to launder those

funds in that reverse
transaction piece

to identify how the
system worked,

and the threshold for the
indictment to be realised

in the US under their
legislation required

that up to a million
dollars would be laundered

before you could secure
that indictment.

So when we get the money
from the Australians

to go ahead and
start the operation

ah it was very, it was a little

nerve-wracking ah I
don't even keep my own

cheque book, I let
my wife do that so

now I've got another
government's money

ah to use in an
operation so it was

a bit nerve-wracking but...

the plan that we had
in place was solid,

we were confident it would work.

(tense music)

It was vital for a successful
prosecution that the

undercover agents made contact
with Altaf Khanani directly.

Trust is everything, so
we began conversations

um we provided opportunities ah
to for Khanani to make money

and then when it came
time where the rubber

met the road, we actually
followed through

and we gave him
what he needed to

make ah the transaction
successful,

so we gave him the money,
we gave him the accounts,

we told him, we told
him who we were,

we told him we were
drug traffickers.

An undercover agent in Australia
called him personally.

and gained Khanani's trust.

The team prepared to hand over
the first bundle of money.

The first cash
drop was critical.

The DEA put $100,000 in
unmarked bills into a

bag and gave it to their
undercover agent.

He was meant to meet Khanani's
man in a car park in New Jersey.

(music)

It was at a Dunkin' Donuts
up in New Jersey area.

They met in the parking
lot and um our

undercover meets 'em
they confirm that

the token or the dollar
bill is the serial

number's correct and
the exchange occurs.

So that was that was the
first, that was the first job.

Khanani had promised
to wire back

the money minus his commission

via a seemingly legitimate
business in the Middle East.

Now the detectives
would have to wait

to see if they really
had fooled him.

Did I think it was going to go,

yes 'cause I was
confident in the

undercover, I was confident in
the case agents and the group.

However, there's a level of

anxiety when you're
managing it all

ah that it's got to go
and there was a lot

of sleepless nights
ah over a few months.

Waiting for the money to
return was the worst part.

It was the first time we've done
this sort of covert operation.

You've got a number of
things going through your

mind, not the least of which
is losing your $100,000.

What's happening?

After a tense five days
Rob Cassitta phoned

Richard Grant to give
him the good news.

Khanani had wired back
the Australian money.

The first one's
always special, and

ah the I think I
sent him a text or

a photo of ah the
money and I could

feel the sigh of
relief down under.

I got the phone call to say
the money's gone through.

So thankfully my backside was
no longer in that sling.

But the money had gone
through and the job

was a success, so we
knew we were on a roll.

With the first batch of
money through the cash

drops continued in Houston,
Atlanta and New York.

It happened so quickly
and it was working

um as we moved from city to city

that I know there was
the moments where I was

with the guys John and
the other guys in

the office and it was
holy shit, this is

working, we can do this
as long as we want to.

It was kind of amazing to see

how we can throw out
a state or ah an

area where we needed
money picked up

and Khanani was able to
reach into his Rolodex

and dial up somebody to
ah help us with that.

Hello? Do you hear me?

In one recorded
conversation Altaf

Khanani revealed he was worried.

Here is too much.

You know everywhere
is too much problem

for changing, now we have to do

very, very, very
carefully, changing,

because sometimes
they ask questions.

At one point the operation
appeared to stall.

There was a moment where we
were waiting I think up to

twelve days for money to
come back and the undercover

um who ah brilliantly
ah on his feet

um rather than
threaten violence to

Khanani which we
wouldn't do um utilised

the threat of
violence against him.

The undercover when he talks
to Khanani tells him hey,

listen, if you don't
give me this money back soon,

the cartel's gonna cut my head
off and use it as a soccer ball.

And I think that got
Khanani's attention that um

oh okay I you know I need to
move faster ah with this.

The detectives needed visual

confirmation it was
Altaf Khanani.

At the time what we
had was a number of

conversations between
the undercover

operative and Khanani
which were all

recorded and they're
very damning.

But at the time we actually

couldn't put a
face to the voice.

We had no physical meetings with
Altaf Khanani so to get the

identification
confirmed ah it was

decided to do a
Skype video call um

and that, that's
kinda what put us

over the top with
the identification.

In the Skype call, the
undercover who was in

Australia invited Khanani
to come and visit.

The agent told Khanani
he was calling

about a new business
opportunity ...

He said his new
contact needed to

move more money
more quickly ....

Khanani had no idea that
the noose was tightening.

We had pictures of Khanani,
we knew what he looked like,

we'd been talking to
him on the phone but

to actually get a
picture of his face

and him communicating to us

and the undercover
did a fantastic

job in when that
call was made,

he basically rehashed all the

transactions we had
done up to that point

and Khanani confirmed every
one of 'em so, it was a

great job by the undercover
and phenomenal evidence.

What's going through
my head is I still

go back to him being
some super villain

and looking at that
video and he's

sitting you know in the frame

and just controlling you
know like a money empire

um I thought it was
quite impressive

that this guy had
all that going on

and um he's been
doing it for that

long he's good and
then it felt more

like, we got you,
and ah I knew his

time was ah soon
coming to an end.

(music)

After 36 days the operation
reached a critical point.

The undercover told Khanani
he needed money picked

up in Texas and Khanani,
as always, made it happen.

This was where they had
another cash drop.

And it's where they
hit the magic number:

$1 million US dollars laundered
through the Khanani network.

If he moved over a
million dollars US,

then the penalties
were significantly higher

and we wanted to move
over a million dollars, because

that would reflect the level
of criminality that he was

exhibiting and the impact he
was having on the countries.

All the stuff pertaining
to the undercover

drops is gonna be in this file.

All the banking records
are in that one.

Rob Cassitta and John Clayton
were closing in on one

of the world's biggest
money-laundering bosses.

The US and Australian
detectives had successfully

laundered more than a
million Australian dollars

through Khanani's network, now
they needed to find a country

where he could be arrested and
extradited to the United States.

Once we went to the lure and
capture phase we had to find

a place that ah Khanani would
be comfortable travelling to.

We're developing the plan
like how are we gonna do

this, how are we gonna how
are we gonna catch this guy

and so we basically
drilled down to

Panama, was a good
country for us,

we do a lotta work
down there and they

were they were interested
in helping us.

(music)

They needed to come up
with a way to persuade

Altaf Khanani to get on a
plane and leave Dubai.

The undercover started building
a story about his travel

and down south of central
America and um that we had,

we had more business as drug

traffickers, we had
more business um

that was happening there
in South America and

that if Khanani could
come there and meet some

the cartel members is
what we would say, then

we would be able to
give him more business.

The final sweetener was the
offer of a Panamanian passport.

So, I think that was a too big
of a carrot for him to refuse.

When he booked his
travel to Panama,

he sent the undercover
his itinerary

which was a big relief
and kinda gave us

an idea hey this
guy's really coming.

(music)

The operation was about
to reach its climax.

From an unmarked hangar at Fort
Lauderdale Airport in Florida,

DEA special agent John
Clayton got ready

to fly to Panama to
confront Khanani.

Once Khanani was airborne
en-route to Panama

and we were notified um I think
that was ah a big moment

where we ah just knew, slight of
a fate of God, he was going to

land in Panama and
um we were going

to end this case at that point.

(music and plane engine noise)

Khanani flew in
expecting to meet the

heads of a major South
American cartel.

He was in for a shock.

The DEA plane on the tarmac ah
surrounded by armed guard's

there's police, police
cars everywhere

and um so we're brought into
the detention or holding area

and Altaf Khanani's
brought out of his cell

and and then he has to sign
some paperwork and then he's

turned over along with all his

property, he's
turned over to us.

He was kind of in
shock 'cause he you

know he was expecting
the big trip and

to meet all these big
players and so he

had no idea that
this was happening.

What's going through your head?

I can't believe this
is really happening,

this is ah this is a
pretty amazing moment

um very happy that
the case has come to

a culmination and
we've got this guy.

Well the iconic photo for me
in all this ah in this whole

investigation was
ah John Clayton

putting the handcuffs
on Khanani.

To me that just
summed up everything.

It's everything we promised,
everything we said we were

going to do, we delivered,
and I think we delivered

in less than a year's time,
which to get a guy like

Khanani is yeah, I think
it's pretty remarkable.

I immediately forwarded
it to the Aussie

counterparts and ah said
it's done, basically.

I remember, I think I'd
gone home at that stage,

and I had my phone and then
suddenly the phone binged,

and I looked down there
and there was a text with a

photograph of Khanani

surrounded by DEA
agents in cuffs.

It was a wonderful thing.

(music)

Altaf Khanani was frog marched
to this very plane, a specialist

DEA aircraft used for operations
across central America.

After decades in the wild
financing the world's criminal

kingpins Altaf Khanani realised
it was finally all over.

He was going to jail.

(music)

Khanani was flown out of
Panama and back to Florida.

As the wheels lift up and
when the plane takes

off you can tell he's
he's starting to think

about like what is,
what is really going on

and so then he starts
asking us questions.

Like ah you know well
what, what is it

I can do to get out
of this situation,

well unfortunately for him there
was no way to get out of this

situation, this was the end of
the line for Altaf Khanani.

(music)

At the DEA headquarters he was

finger-printed and
put in this cell.

It was an immense sense of
pride in the people that had

worked on this particular
matter for such a long time

then collaborating
with international partners

to achieve this outcome was
something unprecedented.

It actually disrupted
a significant

organised crime threat
to the country.

And that's the thing
I was most proud of.

Altaf Khanani pleaded guilty.

In return for assisting
authorities in March last

year he received only
five-and-a-half years in jail.

With US sanctions in place
against his family and

associates the Khanani
network has been dismantled.

Others have emerged
to take its place.

There are other networks.

For example, out of Vietnam, out
of Dubai, out of Hong Kong.

The business that is lost if
the Khanani network has taken

down, simply gets picked up by

another money
laundering network.

I'm quite confident
that Khanani was

the top of a fairly large tree.

Unfortunately, it's a
forest, there's lot

of trees, and lots of
people at the top.

So, the job of this
agency and working with

other law enforcement
partners is to really

identify those trees and
identify the people

at the top of them,
and take them out.

I think the biggest
message that everyone

can take from this
and all the drug

traffickers and money
launderers in the

world is that
nobody's untouchable.

(music)