First Secretary of State Louise Haigh has vowed to shut down thousands of shops involved in criminal activity, after witnessing a police raid in Surrey as part of a national crackdown on money laundering and other offences.
Speaking to The Mirror during the operation, Ms Haigh said the public has grown frustrated with criminals operating openly on high streets. The National Crime Agency (NCA) estimates that around £1 billion is laundered through tens of thousands of shops each year.
Raid in Walton-on-Thames
Ms Haigh joined officers during a raid in Walton-on-Thames, where police and NCA officers swooped on a barber shop and a mini-market. Dozens of police descended on the businesses after locals voiced suspicions. During the search of the barber shop, officers found a small area at the back with beds and a bathroom where four or five people were believed to be living.
Ms Haigh said: "It's just been happening under people's noses for far too long. They see it, they're frustrated by it. They're law-abiding citizens and they see this brazen criminality happening on their high streets."
Operation Machinize
The raid was part of Operation Machinize, a £30 million crackdown on money laundering, tax evasion, drug dealing and illegal working. On the day Ms Haigh spoke to The Mirror, dozens of raids were carried out across England and Wales.
Ms Haigh said: "We want to make sure that the thousands of businesses that are operating across the country are cracked down on. It has been ignored for too long, so it's going to be a big tide to turn, but we're absolutely committed to do it."
Scale of the problem
Sal Melki, deputy director at the National Crime Agency, told The Mirror: "We estimate over £1 billion is laundered through front businesses - shops on the high street that aren't as legitimate as they seem. There are tens of thousands of these shops nationwide. So Operation Machinize, which is what these raids are part of, is a national endeavour to tackle these shops at scale."
Mr Melki explained how dodgy businesses often operate: "Sometimes they'll be really intrinsic to the money laundering. So, for example, it might be a barber shop that's pretending to cut a lot of hair, but actually what they're doing is they're running cash through the tills and trying to make it appear legitimate."
He added that some shops act as "poly-criminal hubs", serving as social clubs for criminals to organise fraud, immigration offences and labour offences. Ms Haigh said the problem has been neglected by governments for too long and that it is "an enormous problem that needs to be tackled from its root."
