A Manchester student has been found guilty of money laundering after being caught transporting over £400,000 of illegal money on trains across the UK.
21-year-old former engineering student Yuming Dong was part of what British Transport Police (BTP) called a “complex and sophisticated” Chinese Underground Banking Scheme – which operated among students at the University of Manchester – and he often took up the role of a courier, before eventually handing himself in.
On at least two occasions, Dong travelled between London and Manchester to transport over £400,000 of illegal ash to be used as a cash pool.
On one of these occasions on 4 February 2019, Dong texted BTP and claimed there was a suspicious person on board the train who was carrying a large yellow suitcase.
Officers then boarded the train at Manchester Piccadilly, and found Dong “behaving in an agitated way”.
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A conniving student who transported over half a million pounds of illicit money across the country before turning himself in has been sentenced.
Yuming Dong was part of a complex scheme which operated among students at the University of Manchester.
The student’s behaviour led officers to the discovery of nearly £255,000 of cash in his suitcase and Dong was subsequently arrested on suspicion of money laundering, with all of the the money being seized by BTP.
After Dong handed himself in, a search of his address uncovered a diary with mention of money laundering, as well as used train tickets from previous visits to London to collect cash, and further enquiries conducted on the number he used to text BTP proved the extent of his involvement in the criminal conspiracy.
Dong was found guilty of money laundering at Manchester Crown Court on Thursday 28 July, and a judge sentenced him to 18 months imprisonment, suspended for two years.
Yuming Dong was caught with £250,000 in cash inside a suitcase at Manchester Piccadilly / Credit: Network Rail Media
“This was a complex and painstaking investigation which uncovered a sophisticated criminal operation involving large scale money laundering and deception,” explained Detective Inspector Granville Sellers – from BTP’s Major Serious and Organised Crime team.
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“The sum of money involved is simply staggering, but it’s very satisfying to know that over £250,000 of this will now be used as police funds – allowing us further investment in keeping the travelling public safe.
“Money laundering is not a victimless crime, the cash involved often originates from criminal activity such as drug dealing and exploitation.
“We will always take these reports seriously and work tirelessly to bring offenders before the courts.”
Featured Image – BTP
News
New data estimates that 7.3m Oasis fans are set to miss out on 2027 tour tickets
Emily Sergeant
New data has revealed that as many as 7.3 million Oasis fans could be set to miss out on tickets to the band’s 2027 tour.
In case you need bringing up to speed a little, it was announced earlier this week that, following the unprecedented success of the reunion tour, Oasis Live ’25, last year, including five nostalgia-drenched gigs at Manchester’s Heaton Park, Oasis would be hitting the road once again in 2027, and this time around, they’re going BIG.
We’re talking 11 nights at the Etihad Stadium and a return to the iconic grounds of Knebworth for four special shows there too, kind of ‘big’.
The iconic Manchester band will also be taking to a range of other world-famous stages across the globe, including five nights at Glasgow’s Celtic Park, and major cities like Barcelona, Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, and Las Vegas.
But despite the elevated number of dates the Gallaghers and co will be performing, some new data has unfortunately revealed that millions of fans may still not be lucky enough to snag a ticket.
The ticketing system for Oasis Live ’27 is not what it was for the last tour, nor will it be similar to many other tours of a similar scale in the past either, as this time, the band and their promotors are taking necessary measures to ensure ‘genuine fans’ get their hands on the tickets and that dynamic pricing doesn’t creep in.
Instead of going into detail on that now though, you can read our full guide on how to get tickets for the Manchester and Knebworth shows here.
Experts at online ticketing platform TicketSource have analysed the scale of demand for Oasis tickets by comparing the 10 million fans worldwide who queued for the initial release of 1.4 million tickets for their 2025 tour, with the newly announced 2027 tour dates and stadium capacities.
With an estimated 2.67 million tickets available across 38 dates and 11 locations between 21 May and 19 September 2027, Oasis could still face huge demand from fans hoping to see them live.
But research reveals the band would need to play 112 Wembley-sized shows to accommodate everyone who tried to get a ticket in 2025.
The 2027 tour would accommodate just 26.7% of those who tried to get tickets last time, meaning almost three-quarters (73%) of them could miss out, leaving a shortfall of more than 7.3 million fans.
Fingers crossed you’re among the lucky lot that secure tickets, though.
Featured Image – Joshua Halling (Press Image – Supplied)
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Former GMP officer jailed after being found guilty of several online child sex offences
Emily Sergeant
A former police officer from Salford has been sentenced after being found guilty of a string of online child sex offences.
Following a trial back in July, 35-year-old Michael Aspinall was sentenced at Preston Crown Court earlier this week (Monday 14 September) after being found guilty of three counts of attempting sexual communication with a child.
It comes after Aspinall – who was employed by Greater Manchester Police (GMP) at the time of the offences – was arrested in October 2024 by detectives from the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit (NWROCU), and was immediately suspended from duty following his arrest.
The investigation began after evidence was obtained that Aspinall had been communicating online with individuals that he believed to be children, but he was in fact communicating with a police officer.
Following this series of interactions, he was charged with various offences.
In addition to his eight-month sentence – which has been suspended for two years – Aspinall will also be placed on the sex offender’s register for 10 years, subject to a five-year serious crime prevention order, and have undertake 20 days of rehabilitation, GMP has confirmed.
He has additionally been added to the College of Policing’s barred list.
An application to request forfeiture of Aspinall’s police pension has also been made to the Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester.
“Aspinall’s offending was clearly unacceptable for any right-minded member of society and particularly inappropriate for a serving police officer,” commented Detective Chief Inspector Gareth Humphreys, from GMP’s Professional Standards Directorate.
“His actions put the whole police service under scrutiny, but thanks to the hard work and diligence of undercover officers, he was arrested, found guilty, and has now received his punishment.”
DCI Humphreys concluded: “[Aspinall’s] actions take away from the hard work of the men and women who work so hard for their communities every day, and it is only right that anyone committing these sort of offences are rooted out.”
Emily Sergeant -
3rd August 2022 
