The Home Office has announced a £30 million crackdown on dodgy high street businesses, including barbers, vape stores, and mini-marts, led by the National Crime Agency (NCA). The new High Street Organised Crime Unit will target money laundering, illegal working, and tax evasion.
Scope of the Operation
The scheme aims to carry out thousands of raids, seize cash, and shut down criminal operators. The NCA estimates that crooked high street businesses are responsible for laundering £1 billion a year. The crackdown comes amid claims that corner shops are taking payments for small boat traffickers, with smugglers collecting money for illegal Channel crossings using a network of UK-registered businesses.
Undercover Investigation
A BBC investigation found that staff at a shop in Woolwich, south-east London, were secretly filmed telling an undercover researcher that nearly £3,000 in cash could be deposited and transferred to a smuggler in France. The trafficker also provided bank account details of two UK-registered companies—a wholesaler in Newcastle upon Tyne and a Cambridgeshire car wash—for electronic transfers for migrant crossings.
New Unit Details
The Home Office's new unit will bring together the NCA, police, HM Revenue and Customs, and trading standards. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the operation would crack down on criminal gangs that 'exploit our high streets to launder their dirty money' and 'undercut honest businesses'. The unit will target a variety of businesses, including American-style 'candy stores' in London's West End, implicated in money laundering, selling counterfeit goods, overcharging tourists, and failing to pay business rates.
Mahmood stated: 'Criminal gangs have exploited our high streets to launder their dirty money and undercut honest businesses. We are hitting back with a nationwide crackdown to shut these fronts down, seize dirty cash and drive organised crime off our high streets and put bosses behind bars.'
Expansion of Existing Operations
The new scheme will expand the work of an 18-month NCA operation that has seen 950 arrests and more than £10 million of criminal assets seized. The NCA estimates at least £12 billion of criminal cash is generated in the UK each year, with £1 billion laundered through high street businesses.
The three-year programme will see 75 new police officers recruited across the NCA, Greater Manchester Police, West Midlands Police, and a joint Kent Police and Essex Police unit. Funding includes £20 million to the NCA and the National Police Chiefs' Council, £6 million to trading standards departments, £1.5 million to the Home Office's Immigration Enforcement agency, and £1.35 million to HM Revenue and Customs. A further £900,000 will go on running the unit, overseen by security minister Dan Jarvis.
Reactions
Chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, Helen Dickinson, said: 'Stolen goods are commonly funnelled through illicit supply chains and resold through unscrupulous businesses, helping fund further criminality. This harms businesses, puts colleagues at risk, and pushes up prices for honest shoppers. Tackling it requires prioritisation from police and government, and co-ordination and intelligence sharing between retailers, law enforcement, and local partners.'
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp criticised the Labour government, saying: 'Labour have done more damage to our high streets than 75 officers can fix. Under Labour, there are 1,300 fewer police officers, a huge spike in business rates, anti-business legislation, jobs tax, the list goes on. Crime and antisocial behaviour are at unacceptably high levels. The Conservatives have a plan to Take Back our Streets that would put 10,000 extra police officers on the streets, backed by £800 million, to triple stop and search, roll out live facial recognition to the worst crime hotspots.'
