Expired
Barbershops and other cash-intensive companies across the UK have been targeted by police and other law enforcement officials during a three-week crackdown on crimes on High Street.
In total, 265 facilities were visited during the operation, with officers securing a freeze order over bank accounts totaling over £1 million, 84 warrants and 35 arrests.
In the operation, 55 individuals asked about the immigration situation, and a further 97 were protected in connection with modern slavery.
Additionally, officers seized more than £40,000 cash, roughly 200,000 cigarettes, 7,000 packs of cigarettes, more than 8,000 illegal steam and two vehicles. Two cannabis farms were also found, containing a total of 150 plants. Ten shops have been closed, with more closures expected as a result of ongoing investigations.
The NCA estimates that £12 billion in criminal cash is generated in the UK every year. This is usually smuggled abroad or integrated into a legitimate financial system using a variety of laundry techniques.
Cash-intensive companies such as barbershops, vape shops, nail bars, sweet American themed shops, and car washes are often used by criminals to hide the origins of illegal cash.
Criminal gangs use them to enter cash into the financial system, mixing legal funds with criminal profits, preventing subsequent law enforcement investigations. They are known for using the proceeds of crime to buy such companies.
The crackdown, which is part of the ongoing disruption of cash laundered in the UK, has involved 19 different police and local organized crime forces, as well as national institutions such as HMRC, trade standards and immigration enforcement of the Department of Home Affairs.
It was supported by the National Police Chiefs' Council and coordinated by the NCA's National Economic Crime Centre.
Rachel Herbert, deputy director of the NCA's National Economic Crime Centre, said:
“Operations mechanize targeted barbershops and other high street businesses that are used as covering criminality across the nation.
“We have seen links between drug trafficking and distribution, organized immigration crime, modern slavery and human trafficking, firearms, illegal cigarette and steam sales.
“Cash-intensive companies are used as a frontline for money laundering, encouraging the highest harm and highest impact in the UK.
“Here at the National Economic Crime Center, we are leading the cross-system efforts to coordinate actions across the UK and make the financial system more resilient.
“The excellent results from the first iteration of the operation are evidence of the tireless work of executives across the country, indicating their determination to crack down on organized crimes that abuse high streets.”
Dan Jarvis's Minister of Security said:
“High street crime undermines our security, our borders and our community, and I am determined to take the critical action necessary to bring the person responsible to justice.
“This successful, NCA-led operation highlights the scale and complexity of crime facing our towns and cities, and demonstrates our collective resolve to make our city safer, a key pillar of this government's plan of change.
“We will continue to support the NCA and other law enforcement partners as we make the UK an even more hostile environment for organized crime.”
April 10, 2025