Barbers, minimarts, and vape shops are among the 2,700 high street businesses that have been raided in the UK’s largest ever crackdown of its kind on money laundering.
Officials state that these cash-rich establishments, which have proliferated across British high streets in recent years, can be exploited for a range of illicit activities, from disguising dirty money and hiding drugs to facilitating people trafficking and smuggling tobacco and vapes.
The rapid expansion of such businesses is evident in areas like Essex and Doncaster, where the number of barber shops has surged by 200 per cent in just five years.
These extensive raids form the second stage of Operation Machinize, a nationwide initiative launched 18 months ago after the National Crime Agency (NCA) concluded that a critical "tipping point" had been reached.
Billions of pounds are laundered through the UK each year, around £12 billion of which is processed in cash.
Most of this is thought to come from drugs.
A month-long operation in October saw 2,734 premises visited and raided, 924 arrests, more than £10.7 million seized and £2.7 million of illegal goods destroyed.
More than 450 companies have been referred to Companies House for further investigation.
Nail bars, car washes, takeaways, phone shops and sweet shops were also among the businesses targeted.
NCA deputy director for illicit finance Sal Melki said: “Shops exploited by criminals can act as hubs for a range of poly-criminality.
“So it could be a convenient place to launder money or evade tax.
“It could also be a convenient place to move illicit commodities, hide the proceeds of drugs sales, or act as a meeting point for criminal associates.”
The national operation saw officers in West Yorkshire target an alleged crime gang accused of using a jewellers to run an investment fraud and launder the proceeds.
The force seized assets worth more than £2 million, including gold bars, a ring worth £500,000, and 30 watches including some made by Patek Philippe.
It is alleged that a solicitor, who had a home worth more than £1 million with no mortgage, authorised payments of £800,000 as part of the money-laundering operation.
Rachael Herbert, director of the National Economic Crime Centre at the NCA, said: “Thousands of officers have been deployed up and down our country, targeting criminal profits and the means of generating them.
“Hundreds of thousands of harmful and illegal products have been taken off our streets, and over £10 million in cash, frozen in bank accounts and criminal assets seized.
“Depriving criminals of their source of income has a real impact, limiting the amount of funds they can reinvest in further offending and deterring them from taking spaces on our high street that could be used by legitimate businesses.”
Security minister Dan Jarvis said: “Criminals are using these dodgy shops as fronts for serious organised crime, money laundering and illegal working, risking the future of the British high street.
“We have intensified our joint efforts with law enforcement to dismantle criminal networks and relentlessly pursue those who use dirty money for personal gain.
“Together we have seized millions in criminal assets, removed harmful drugs from our streets and arrested hundreds of criminals who are undercutting honest business owners.
“I want to thank every officer who took part in this operation.”
