Deception of criminals taking in prelates abroad (5,9)
I believe the answer is:
false pretences
'deception' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'criminals taking in prelates abroad' is the wordplay.
'criminals' becomes 'fences' (people who handle stolen goods).
'taking in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'abroad' is an anagram indicator.
'prelates' with letters rearranged gives 'alsepret'.
'fences' enclosing 'alsepret' is 'FALSE PRETENCES'.
'of' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for false pretences that I've seen before include "deception" , "Behaviour intended to deceive" , "fraud" .)