Sanam Shehzadi was sentenced to three years in jail while Sarfraz Adil was given a sentence of five years in jail.
WA District Court Judge Christopher Stevenson said the pair was "caught effectively red-handed".
"I note that you did not bring the money with you to this state, but that it was provided to you on arrival for the express purpose of depositing in a number of different bank accounts in South Perth and the CBD and elsewhere," he said.
“Cuckoo smurfing” involves depositing small amounts of money into accounts which are then transferred to an accomplice overseas.
Both of them flew in from Sydney to Perth to carry out the deposits.
The court was told that Sanam was using the codename “Kidman” to communicate while Sarfraz was communicating with another person with a codename, “Lala G.”
“The community need to understand, particularly … people who come from other countries and live in this country who are in a position to be involved in this type of illegal behaviour - that community needs to understand that significant sentences will be imposed,” he said.
‘Cuckoo smurfing’ term is derived from the bird cuckoo that lays its eggs in other birds’ nests. Smurfing comes from the TV cartoon Smurf based on the activity of smurf, i.e., running around.
Cuckoo smurfing involves depositing small amounts of cash (less than $10,000 to stay undetected) in multiple bank accounts to transfer illegal money overseas.
A large sum of money in cash is usually given to people to commit this crime which carries a sentence of several years.
