£10 million seized as UK police clean up high streets
More than 2,700 vape shops, barbers, mini markets, and car washes have been raided in a month, as part of efforts to clean up Britain’s high streets.
The operation, which targeted businesses suspected of acting as fronts for criminal activity like hiding drugs and disguising dirty money, resulted in 924 arrests and over £10 million seized across the UK.
Every police force in the country, including Police Scotland and the Police Service of Northern Ireland, participated in Operation Machinize, led by the National Crime Agency.
Sal Melki, the NCA’s deputy director for illicit finance, told LBC: “We’ve made a good start to cleaning up the high street.
“We’re not going to solve this problem overnight, but this will be disruptive, it will create jeopardy, and it will really land a hammer blow to those people exploiting our high streets and making them less safe and less prosperous.
“The businesses that we’ve targeted range from so-called lower-level criminality, selling small amounts of illicit tobacco or vapes, through to the top of the pyramid with organized crime groups laundering large sums of cash or evading tax through their business.”
LBC joined police, trading standards, HMRC, and immigration enforcement teams on several raids throughout the month-long operation.
During a visit to a car wash in Crawley, the migration minister Mike Tapp watched—and got involved—as a man was found to be working there illegally.
"He told me he was here on a health and social care visa, but of course he’s working cash-in-hand at a car wash and so is in breach of that visa’s conditions," Mr. Tapp said, as the man was arrested.
The National Crime Agency reports that 341 referral notices for illegal working and renting were made throughout the month.
In Plymouth, LBC followed along as a team seized dozens of fake Labubu dolls from a mini-market.
Opening up one of the boxes, a trading standards officer explained: “Some of the parts on it come detached quite easily. On this one, you can see the eyes pop out really easily so that produces a real choking hazard for babies.”
Further visits were made to a barbershop, a café, and a car wash.
And in Brixton, South London, six stores on the same street selling vapes, phone parts, and perfumes were raided simultaneously.
A tech expert identified dozens of counterfeit Apple products, noting that all of the serial numbers on the bottom of the boxes were the same.
Inspector Olly Lamb from the Metropolitan Police told LBC: “For some of these businesses, it’s the third visit they’ve had from us this year.
“I will now be working hard to ensure the people in these premises are prosecuted and we’ll be working to shut them down to make way for legitimate businesses.”
Nationally, more than 450 companies have been referred to Companies House for further investigation.
Cash-rich businesses have proliferated on UK high streets in recent years, with areas like Essex and Doncaster seeing the number of barber shops rise by 200% in five years.
Sal Melki from the NCA explained: “We look at barbershops a lot because they’re quite easy to set up—you need a chair and some clippers and you don’t need much more than that to have a veneer of legitimacy.
“But we say it’s all types of shops that traditionally trade in cash—they won’t always trade in cash but vape shops, phone shops, off licenses.
“We have shut down dozens of businesses around the country since this process began but we now need to collate all of our evidence, put the intelligence picture together, and find out what types of criminality are going on that will lead to further closures.”
The operation also saw officers in West Yorkshire target an alleged crime gang accused of using a jeweller’s shop 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, some made by Patek Philippe.
It is alleged that a solicitor, who owned a home worth more than £1 million with no mortgage, authorized payments of £800,000 as part of the money-laundering operation.
Security minister Dan Jarvis said: "Criminals are using these dodgy shops as fronts for serious organized 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.
World Affairs Correspondent
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