The National Crime Agency say they can 'draw a really clear thread between someone buying some cocaine on a Friday night in the UK and the Russian military complex'

A billion-pound money laundering network active in the UK bought a bank in Kyrgyzstan to fund the Russian war effort in Ukraine .

The global operation, based in Moscow , links Britons "buying cocaine on a Friday night" to the "highest levels of organised crime" and the "Russian industrial military complex", the National Crime Agency revealed on Friday. It takes dirty cash from crime gangs for a fee and exchanges it for untraceable cryptocurrency, hiding illegal profits from police.

The network has also been used by the Russian state to fund espionage, including a seaside spy ring jailed earlier this year, the NCA said.

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