Barbershops and American candy shops raided by police in huge crackdown

Hundreds of American Candy stores and Turkish barbers have been raided as part of a police crackdown on money laundering.

Some 265 premises, which also included nail bars and vape shops, were searched by 19 police forces across the country as part of Operation Machinize.

Officers expected the shops were being used by criminals to hide dirty cash, and froze assets totalling more than £1million in bank accounts, executed 85 warrants and made 35 arrests over a three-week period.

Two cannabis farms were discovered in the raid, and police Police seized more than £40,000 in cash, 200,000 cigarettes, 7,000 packs of tobacco, more than 8,000 illegal vapes and two vehicles.

In total, 10 shops were closed by the National Crime Agency with more expected to follow.

Among the raids undertaken in Rochdale, Greater Manchester Police found some of the staff at mini-marts were Kurdish, Iraqi or Iranian asylum seekers, who were working in the UK illegally, the BBC reported. 

Rachael Herbert, deputy director of the National Economic Crime Centre at the NCA, which provided intelligence to local forces, said: ‘Operation Machinize targeted barbershops and other high street businesses being used as cover for a whole range of criminality, all across the country.

‘We have seen links to drug trafficking and distribution, organised immigration crime, modern slavery and human trafficking, firearms, and the sale of illicit tobacco and vapes.

‘We know cash-intensive businesses are used as fronts for money laundering, facilitating some of the highest harm and highest impact offending in the UK.

‘The excellent results from the first iteration of Operation Machinize are testament to the tireless work of officers across the country, and demonstrate our resolve to clamp down on organised criminality abusing the high street.’

Security Minister Dan Jarvis said: ‘High street crime undermines our security, our borders, and the confidence of our communities, and I am determined to take the decisive action necessary to bring those responsible to justice.

‘This successful NCA-led operation highlights the scale and complexity of the criminality our towns and cities face and demonstrates our collective determination to make our streets safer, a key pillar of this government’s Plan for Change.

‘We will continue to support the NCA, and other law enforcement partners, as we make the UK an even more hostile environment for organised crime.’

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