Fixer was at the heart of gang network
A BIRMINGHAM criminal mastermind who found hundreds of properties for gangs to use as brothels and cannabis farms was finally brought to justice after renting a house in Gloucestershire.
Feng Xu was a go-to middleman who created fake IDs to rent properties which he would then sub-let to organised crime groups involved in prostitution, cannabis farming and illegal immigration. But he came unstuck months after Gloucestershire police’s Serious and Organised Crime Operations Team raided a house in Stallions Street in Newent.
Xu, a Chinese national who seemed to the outside world like a wealthy, respectable Birmingham businessman, had made a mistake which allowed officers to unravel the paper trail behind the lease and led them to him.
In May, police raided his luxury £2,500-a-month flat and a secure storage unit used by the 43-yearold and found enough evidence to bring him to Birmingham Crown Court where he recently pleaded to guilty to 22 offences.
He was jailed for seven years and four months.
During the raid they found a computer database listing 446 different addresses which he had been involved in renting out using false documents such as pay slips, utility bills and bank statements, all made himself.
They believe the network had been operating for at least three-and-a-half years until his arrest and during that time more than £4 million in rent was paid out, some from his own accounts, some paid direct by the crime groups.
The court heard that Xu entered the UK in 1996 as a student, but had been living illegally here since 2000, and will face deportation after serving his sentence.
Daren Nicholls, senior investigating officer on the case for the National Crime Agency, said as well as 33 false passports, Xu had 12 false UK driving licences, numerous phones and ten high street bank accounts dating back to 2015 which had seen transactions including £4.2 million in rent and admin charges.
He spent more than £400,000 on living expenses.
After the case, Mr Nicholls said well-spoken Xu had “worked hard” for his nice lifestyle and spent most of his time criss-crossing the country.