Has the £1m Birmingham bangle scam taken the shine off gold, severely damaging the city's world-renowned hallmarking trade? In this special report Carl Jackson reveals the details of a painstaking two-year investigation by Trading Standards - codenamed Operation Egyptian.

The £1m Birmingham bangle scam was brought crashing down when investigators captured the ringleader hiding under a bed holding Gaviscon tablets and a bottle of water.

But now grave concerns have been raised that the five-year racket has severely damaged the city's world-renowned hallmarking trade.

It is also thought scores of fake bangles could still be out there being worn by unsuspecting victims.

Conspiring trio Ibrar Hussain, his ex-wife Sabhia Shaheen and jeweller Mohammed Afsar were jailed for a combined 14 years in November sending shock waves through the jewellery trade.

Ibrar Hussain. Credit - Birmingham City Council.
Ibrar Hussain. Credit - Birmingham City Council.

The case is set to be the subject of a BBC Fake Britain documentary later this year.

But now Birmingham Trading Standards has laid bare the details of its painstaking two-year investigation, codenamed Operation Egyptian, to the city council's Licensing and Public Protection committee.

It centred around a sophisticated plot to manufacture 14 carat gold bangles advertising them as 22 carat - and raking in thousands of pounds in extra profit in the process.

But councillors have been left stunned to learn that a small number of the pieces had been hallmarked by the Birmingham Assay Office, which has been a centre of expert opinion and independent assessment of jewellery for nearly 250 years.

Sabhia Shaheen. Credit - Birmingham City Council.
Sabhia Shaheen. Credit - Birmingham City Council.

Cllr Mike Leddy, a trained jeweller, said: "I can't recollect where an article has been hallmarked by the Birmingham Assay Office and it has not met the standard.

"When I read this I was absolutely dumbstruck. It has taken the shine off gold.

"Families from the Middle East and south Asia invest their family fortune in gold. Where's the confidence? It's been kicked out of the trade."

Cllr Bob Beauchamp, a former silver production engineer, echoed the concern declaring that famous Birmingham engineer Matthew Boulton, who lobbied Parliament vigorously to create the office in 1773, would be 'rolling in his grave'.

He said: "They have got to get their act together as far as this city is concerned.

"Our reputation throughout the world, not to mention Europe, is on this Assay Office and for them to let something like this slip through they have got to be jumped on."

And Cllr Neil Eustace added: "There used to be three things in life you could trust to happen; death, taxes and anything you bought with a hallmark on in Birmingham you could trust.

"This shook me to the core."

Operation Egyptian centred around fake gold bangles of lower purity than advertised. Birmingham City Council.
Operation Egyptian centred around fake gold bangles of lower purity than advertised. Birmingham City Council.

Fears were also raised that not enough effort has been made to warn the public they may have unwittingly spent thousands of pounds on fake gold.

Cllr Leddy accused the authorities, particularly the Assay Office at Moreton Street, of failing to 'close the loop' and called for a hotline  to be set up for potential victims.

He said: "Who is going back to that individual and saying there is a possibility you've got 14 carat and not 22, that it's valued at £2,000 and not the £6,000 you paid?"

Cllr Nagina Kauser quizzed Trading Standards officials on what guarantees people had when buying Asian gold.

In response Mick Davis, from the department, said: "You haven't got any guarantee in a sense."

He, along with fellow investigating officer Gary Singh, advised people to only buy Asian gold with a hallmark but admitted there was still a risk.

They also recommended people make expensive purchases on a credit card, as opposed to cash, for additional insurance.

Both officials defended Birmingham Assay Office pointing out they had since changed their procedures around hallmarking, particularly Asian gold bangles, and were now far more rigorous.

Mr Davis said: "Confidence is something that is built up over time obviously and because there has been a knock in confidence on the Assay Office this time, it is going to take time for them to recover.

"But we are confident that the new procedures they have got in place will prevent this thing happening again.

"So far we have put three people away. The message will get through that Birmingham Trading Standards are serious about taking prosecutions in relation to these matters."

Response from Birmingham Assay Office

Birmingham Assay Office. Google Street View.
Birmingham Assay Office. Google Street View.

Doug Henry, CEO and Assay Master, said: "We were pleased to play a key role in this carefully planned and executed investigation working with colleagues in Trading Standards and West Midlands Police.

"We test and mark several million precious metal items of jewellery each year and fraudulent activity in precious metal jewellery in this country is rare because of the techniques that we and the other UK Assay Offices have in place to provide security to the consumer.

"In this case, we had previously rejected some items as being below the standard claimed but the complex construction methods employed by these criminals made detection of some of the bangles much more difficult until process changes were implemented.

"For reasons of security we cannot comment on or disclose our methods and procedures or the systems we use."

He also confirmed that, outside of Operation Egyptian, the office has occasionally identified jewellery and precious metals below the standard stipulated in the Hallmarking Act but was unable to say whether any further investigations were on-going.

Advice for consumers 

A typical hallmark including the three mandatory symbols and two optional ones. Birmingham Assay Office.
A typical hallmark including the three mandatory symbols and two optional ones. Birmingham Assay Office.

Anyone buying jewellery, particularly Asian jewellery, can reduce the risk of getting substandard purity by only purchasing items with a hallmark.

Hallmarks contain three mandatory elements; the Sponsor Mark to identify the manufacturer, importer or retailer, the Standard Mark showing the metal's purity and the Office Mark which shows which Assay Office tested and marked the piece.

The certifying mark of Birmingham Assay Office is an anchor.

There may also be optional marks such as the date letter and the traditional fineness mark.

Mr Henry added: "Even experts can’t tell the precious metal content of an alloy by touch, feel or colour – the only way to be sure is through a series of tests.

"We’re keen for consumers to be more aware of the value of hallmarking and there is useful and interesting information on our website, in particular our Hallmarking Consumer leaflet.

"If anyone has any concerns, Birmingham Assay Office in the Jewellery Quarter provides independent valuations and product testing for consumers.

"If anyone has doubts about any jewellery they have purchased, they should get in touch with local trading standards office who are enormously helpful."

More information is available at - www.theassayoffice.com/download-centre/download-centre2

Trading Standards can be contacted through the national Citizens Advice helpline on 03454 040506.

Shiza Jewellers on Stratford Road. Google Street View.
Shiza Jewellers on Stratford Road. Google Street View.

Background to Operation Egyptian

Trading Standards received intelligence about the alleged fraud in September 2016, after a bullion dealer purchased a large quantity of 'scrap' gold.

He expected it to be worth up to £90,000 but when melted down it was valued at £57,000.

The gold had been in-filled with silver copper and other alloys as well as being heavily gold plated.

What was advertised as 22 carats (99 per cent gold) was actually no more than 14 (58 per cent).

A lengthy investigation began with the support of West Midlands Police.

Ibrar Hussain, Sabhia Shaheen and Mohammed Afsar (known as Malik) were soon identified as the three key suspects.

It was thought Shiza Jewellers and Zaiver Jewellers, both on Stratford Road, were at the heart of the operation which it was feared had been going on for more than five years.

Zaiver Jewellers on Stratford Road. Google Street View.
Zaiver Jewellers on Stratford Road. Google Street View.

Intensive surveillance took place, tracking the suspects' movements using Automatic Number Plate Recognition, establishing their meeting places and monitoring their activities.

Trading Standards then used £8,000 worth of Proceeds of Crime funding to buy two eight-item sets of bangles, one from each jewellers.

The pieces were investigated by the Assay Office who confirmed they were significantly under carat.

By this time they had already changed their own processes and agreed to flag up any parcels from the suspects.

In January 2017 Hussain and Shaheen were caught on CCTV submitting 20 bangles for hallmarking under another trader's details.

The Assay Office seized them after drilling found they were all under carat.

The fraudsters tried to retrieve them unsuccessfully as Trading Standards used delay tactics as they prepared search warrants.

Surveillance continued but ringleader Hussain had been particularly elusive up until this point, moving from safe house to safe house and never staying anywhere longer than a few days.

He was thought to be travelling all over the country shifting the bangles making up to £1,200 extra profit per set of six to eight items.

He was also selling them on eBay.

In February 2017 officers tracked Shaheen from an address in Yardley to London where she met up with Hussain.

It was a major breakthrough in the case, in locating Hussain and establishing the pairs' relationship.

A few weeks later 15 officials executed simultaneous entry warrants at the two jewellers as well as two homes, one in Grestone Avenue, Handsworth, and another in Stockfield Road, south Yardley.

Three secret workshops were discovered filled with hundreds of rubber moulds, bangle expanders, furnaces and gas bottles.

Hundreds of rubber moulds were seized from the three secret workshops. Birmingham City Council
Hundreds of rubber moulds were seized from the three secret workshops. Birmingham City Council

Around 600 bangles were recovered which were found to match up with the moulds.

Mountains of paperwork and several electronic devices were also seized with investigators having to spend months trawling through Whatsapp and text messages, photographs and CCTV footage.

Shaheen, who it emerged was an 'educated' business degree holder and in the country via 'marriage of convenience', was detained and quizzed but remained tight-lipped.

Asfar was also brought in and denied he was the owner of Zaiver jewellers - despite saying so on CCTV - claiming it was a lie he made up to impress women.

The whereabouts of Hussain remained unknown prompting West Midlands Police to issue a wanted appeal.

It was not until March 2018 when he was tracked to the Jewellery Quarter and followed to an address in Wychbold Crescent, Tile Cross.

He was caught hiding under an ottoman holding a bottle of water and Gaviscon tablets seemingly intending to lay low for a long time.

Following a nine-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court all three were found guilty of committing fraud by false representation and jailed on November 7 last year.

Hussain, then aged 38, who ran Shiza, was also convicted of three counts of intimidating witnesses and imprisoned for a total of seven years.

Shaheen, 40, also of Shiza, received a three-year sentence and a seven-year ban on being a company director.

Afsar, then 47, was also found guilty of blackmail after coercing a witness to work for him without pay under threat to his family. He was jailed for four years.

Upon sentencing Judge Laird said: "You were able to manufacture gold bangles in such a skilled fashion that even the Birmingham Assay Office were incapable of detecting that they were of inferior quality and on many occasions such bangles were hallmarked by the Birmingham Assay Office as 22 carat gold.”

He was 'quite satisfied' that the fraud could be valued between £300,000 and £500,000.

But Trading Standards believe the scam lasted at least five years with the trio potentially pocketing up to £1m.