POLICE have seized a number of drugs and illegal cigarettes, as well as stopped a number of illegal working practises, following a multi-agency operation.
Officers from the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU) were joined by agencies including Trading Standards, Immigration Enforcement, and the Department of Work and Pensions, along with local police forces, to visit 11 barber and vape shops across Sussex, Hampshire and Thames Valley as part of co-ordinated activity targeting money laundering.
Visits across the South East were co-ordinated by SEROCU and formed part of the wider Operation Machinize.
The operation, led by the National Crime Agency’s National Economic Crime Centre targeting cash-intensive businesses.
During the course of the operation, £1,000′ worth of illegal cigarettes were seized by Trading Standards, 100 wraps of Class B drugs were seized by police, and two prohibition notices were issued to owners of barbershops for unsafe fire practices.
One arrest was made by Immigration Enforcement in connection with illegal working, and one licence enforcement notice was issued by a local authority due to not conforming to business licence conditions.
Ongoing investigations are being carried out by partner agencies in connection with tax evasion, possible benefit fraud and planning in relation to buildings/structures erected without permission.
Detective Inspector Emily Evans, of SEROCU, said: “Approximately £12 billion of criminal cash is generated in the UK each year, according to estimates.
“This is usually smuggled out of the country or makes it way in to the financial system via money laundering.
“Premises which tend to be used by organised crime groups in this manner include those which use cash extensively – barbershops, vape shops, and nail salons.
“Money laundering can be linked to a myriad of other offences so a partnership approach is key to ensuring we can build an intelligence picture so that those who engage in criminal or civil offences can be held to account for their actions.”
