North London café allegedly used to launder drug money

On a busy road in a shabby part of north London, the La Gran Colombia café looks like any other eatery set up to service the local South American community.

But as well as offering traditional Colombian treats, police believe the delicatessen and money- exchange centre was used for a more sinister purpose.

The business is said to be part of an alleged Colombian drug network.

The owner and manager of the café were among 12 people arrested by the Metropolitan Police yesterday as part of their international operation against cocaine traffickers. The police believe that the recently refurbished premises on the Holloway Road were used to help launder an estimated £100m of drug money over the past 18 months.

Detectives from the Metropolitan Police said yesterday that a number of money transfer outlets, bureaux de change and cafés were used to "clean" the millions of pounds of cash made from the sale of cocaine. The money was then sent back to Colombia.

In the past, Colombian criminals have laundered "dirty" sterling at London bureaux de change owned by gang members.

One of the techniques used was to place cash in British bank accounts and then wire the money to accounts in the United States and the Colombian capital, Bogota. Another technique was for black-market brokers in Colombia to use "dirty" money to buy life asssurance policies that were then cashed in for "clean" money.

During yesterday's operation a convoy of five dark saloon cars, carrying plain-clothes officers, pulled up outside a house in north London at 6am.

Unarmed officers knocked on the front door, which was opened by the Colombian wife of the police suspect, a 49-year-old Spaniard, Miguel Cassal, who runs the La Gran Colombia café.

He was arrested and questioned by detectives. After more than two hours he was brought out in handcuffs and taken to a police station.

An officer wearing surgical gloves searched a dark green Mercedes off-roader parked in the house's drive.

Officers later removed several plastic bags of documents and a computer. They also said they found several thousand pounds in cash.

At the same time, another team of detectives went to the home in east London of a 38-year-old Colombian, Luis Carrenza-Reyes, who owns the café. There was no answer at the front door of the four-bedroomed house on a new housing development in Beckton, so police used an "enforcer" battering ram.

The door was either reinforced or too strong, and they failed to get in. A man in the house then appeared at a side door and let in the police.

Mr Carrenza-Reyes was arrested and taken to the café, which was searched by the police. He was later taken to a police station for questioning.