
Son of Alleged Smuggling Kingpin Spent $3 Million on London Mosque
06/10/2025
Son of Alleged Smuggling Kingpin Spent $3 Million on London Mosque.
The Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) has published a detailed investigation revealing.
- That Nur Muhammed Palvan, son of alleged smuggling kingpin Khabibula Abdukadyr, spent over $3 million acquiring and converting a former church in Palmers Green, North London, into the Satuq Bughra Khan Mosque and Uyghur Islamic Education Centre.
Nur Muhammed Palvan is the son of Khabibula Abdukadyr, a powerful trade and logistics magnate who allegedly ran a vast smuggling and money laundering network, as revealed in a 2019 investigation by OCCRP, Kloop and RFER/RL.
Abdukadyr was never formally charged.
Key Findings from the OCCRP Investigation:
- Nur Muhammed Palvan is the son of Khabibula Abdukadyr, a Chinese-born Uyghur oligarch accused of running a massive smuggling and money laundering network across Central Asia. This network allegedly dominated the flow of Chinese imports into the region through collusion with corrupt customs officials.
- In 2023, Palvan’s company purchased the church property for over $3 million, later converting it into a mosque and cultural centre. He now chairs the board of trustees of Izqilar, the Uyghur charity that runs the centre. There is no evidence that Izqilar staff were aware of the origin of the funds used for the purchase or renovation.
- Palvan previously lived in the UK under the name Aibibula Nuermaimaiti, during which he received over $1.8 million through the financial network allegedly used to launder his family’s proceeds. Under this alias, he also held ownership of companies linked to his father's business empire.
- The 2019 OCCRP exposé on Abdukadyr was based on testimony and documents from Aierken Saimaiti, a former employee who admitted to laundering hundreds of millions of dollars for the family. Saimaiti was murdered in Istanbul shortly after speaking with journalists.
- Despite the scale of the alleged corruption, Abdukadyr has never been formally charged, and his family continues to invest in global real estate, including luxury properties in London, Dubai, and the U.S., often through shell companies and aliases.
Long read
A company owned by Palvan paid over $3 million for the church, located in the multicultural north London neighbourhood of Palmers Green, in 2023.
It was then reconfigured into the “Satuq Bughra Khan Mosque and Uyghur Islamic Education Centre” for an unknown sum.
Palvan now chairs the board of trustees of Izqilar, the Uyghur charity that runs the centre.
There is no evidence that Izqilar staff were aware of the origin of the funds Palvan used to purchase or redevelop the property. When reached by phone, a representative of Izqilar declined to answer questions, hung up the phone when a reporter mentioned Palvan, and did not reply to subsequent emails. Palvan and his father, Abdukadyr, didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The 2019 investigation into Palvan’s father, Khabibulla Abdukadyr, was based on documents and testimony from a former employee who admitted to laundering hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of Abdukadyr and his extended family. The former employee was murdered in Istanbul shortly after speaking with journalists.
- The documents he provided before his death show that, while living in the U.K. under another name, Palvan received over $1,800,000 through the financial network allegedly used to launder the family’s proceeds. Under that name, Aibibula Nuermaimaiti also held ownership of major companies and assets linked to his father’s business operations, according to documents.
- The investigation also implicated a senior former Kyrgyz customs official who allegedly enabled the Abdukadyrs' smuggling schemes and received laundered funds. After a popular uprising ended his bid for electoral power, he was prosecuted and pleaded guilty to corruption under Kyrgyzstan’s new government.
- https://www.occrp.org/en/news/kyrgyz-ex-customs-official-matraimov-pleads-guilty-to-graft-fined-3000?utm_source=OCCRP&utm_campaign=353c8c0ec7-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_10_06_02_11&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_bcc1d53473-353c8c0ec7-398764241
- https://www.occrp.org/en/project/the-matraimov-kingdom/a-powerful-kyrgyz-clans-political-play?utm_source=OCCRP&utm_campaign=353c8c0ec7-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_10_06_02_11&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_bcc1d53473-353c8c0ec7-398764241
However, the Abdukadyrs’ business ambitions continued to expand, and — as a subsequent investigation by OCCRP and partners revealed in 2023 — the family has invested heavily in real estate projects across Central Asia, the Middle East, and the U.K.
The same month the investigation was published, Palvan purchased the former church for £2.6 million (approximately $3.2 million at the time) through a newly registered U.K. company called Palvan Ltd. The specific origin of these funds is unknown, but the fact that Palvan has received funds from his father’s network raises questions about whether any were applied to this project.
According to a brochure about the project issued by the Izqilar charity, the former church’s main prayer area was to be “redecorated to the traditional architecture of the Uyghur Mosque Style,” and a separate praying area for women was to be created. Photos on the mosque site show a completed renovation, and an event to “celebrate the opening of the UK’s first Uyghur Masjid” was advertised on Instagram this January. It now hosts daily prayers, as well as religious education and Uyghur language classes.
Aside from the mosque, the Abdukadyr family’s other London properties included a mansion purchased in 2015 for $6.8 million.
Palvan also appears on its ownership documents.
The family also owns commercial and residential properties in London and Greater London, including the site of a planned — and still unbuilt — hotel in Ealing, acquired for over $27 million.
Reporters identified other international holdings belonging to the family, acquired for hundreds of millions of dollars, in Dubai, Turkey, and across Central Asia.
These are primarily residential and commercial properties, but they also include two additional religious institutions: a sprawling religious centre in Kazakhstan that cost $15 million, and a mosque in Bishkek.
October 6, 2025 - Sources
- https://tinyurl.com/ywew8zhe
- www.occrp.org https://www.occrp.org/en/scoop/son-of-alleged-smuggling-kingpin-spent-3-million-on-london-mosque
- www.rferl.org https://www.rferl.org/a/uzbekistan-abdukadyr-corruption-smuggling-bribery-investigation-mirziyoev/32373880.html
- www.rferl.org https://www.rferl.org/a/uzbekistan-abdukadyr-corruption-smuggling-bribery-investigation-mirziyoev/32370460.html
- www.occrp.org https://www.occrp.org/en/project/the-shadow-investor/the-abdukadyr-family-made-a-fortune-in-collusion-with-corrupt-central-asian-officials-now-theyve-built-a-global-business-empire
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