Met PC sacked after husband posed as cop to steal drugs cash with rogue officer Kashif Mahmood

A Met Police officer has been sacked after a "Line of Duty" investigation discovered her husband posed as an officer, with another serving PC, to steal cash from drug dealers during fake searches.

PC Inga Gherghel was today dismissed without notice after a misconduct hearing, which followed an investigation by the Met’s Anti-Corruption Command found gross misconduct proven.

The misconduct panel, led by an independent legally qualified chair, heard evidence relating to the arrest of PC Gherghel's husband Ioan Gherghel, 36, on April 28 2020.

He was being investigated as an accomplice to Rogue Met cop Kashif Mahmood, 32, was later jailed for eight years last year after he admitted misconduct in public office in relation to an audacious scam that saw him "seize" cash from drug dealers during fake vehicle searches before handing the money to an organised crime gang he was working with.

Ioan Gherghel is seen in the main image when he was recorded posing as an officer on Mahmood's body camera, footage of which was shown in court.

Mahmood communicated with the gang via the encrypted EncroChat messaging platform.

A search was conducted at the couple's home address in Stratford, east London, and an MPS MetVest - force issued body armour - had not been issued to PC Gherghel, was found inside a cupboard.

A shoebox (above) containing more than £10,000 in cash was also discovered in a bedroom wardrobe.

The hearing found that being aware of the presence of the items, PC Gherghel willfully failed to enquire further in to the origin or purpose of the items and as to what either might be doing in her flat.

Six people – including Mahmood (below), from Harlow, Essex, and Ioan Gherghel, who got six years after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to acquire criminal property – were sentenced in May last year after admitting a range of offences following the wider investigation by the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards’ Anti-Corruption Command.

Read the full story of Mahmood and the gang here.

Commander Marcus Barnett, in charge of policing at the Central East Command Unit, said: "It is the duty of any police officer to report criminality to police and PC Gherghel turned a blind eye to the actions of her husband. This was exacerbated by the fact a MetVest was found at her home that had not been issued to her.

"As the investigation shows, we are determined to root out officers in the Met who do not demonstrate the right qualities and we will prosecute and dismiss them from our force."

PC Gherghel will now be added to the Barred List held by the College of Policing. Those appearing on the list cannot be employed by police, local policing bodies (PCCs), the IOPC or HMIC."

Last December Mahmood's wife Shareen Kashif, 30, who was also a serving Met Police officer at Hackney and Tower Hamlets, was dismissed after she admitted hiding some of the cash that he stole from drug dealers.

She was also present at the time of Mahmood's arrest at their home also in April 2020.

Police said she hid a box that contained significant amounts of cash and allowed the use of Building Society accounts for cash deposits when she knew or suspected the money was the proceeds of crime.

Read that story here.

Kashif (above) was also charged with concealing criminal property which she admitted last September.

At Southwark Crown Court in February she received two years’ imprisonment suspended for 21 months and was ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work.

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Taverner, who led the Met’s investigation, said: “When Kashif became an officer she swore an oath that she would behave with integrity.

“She broke that oath when she chose to interfere with our investigation by hiding her husband’s criminally-gained cash."

The box she hid was never recovered and it is not clear how much was inside.