Multi-Agency Operation Targeting Money Laundering In The South East

More than 100 wraps of Class B drugs, illegal cigarettes and illegal working practices were uncovered as part of a multi-agency operation targeting cash-based money laundering and disrupting serious and organised crime across the South East.

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.

The visits across the South East, which were co-ordinated by SEROCU, formed part of the wider Operation Machinize, led by the National Crime Agency’s National Economic Crime Centre targeting cash-intensive businesses.

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.”

During the visits across the South East:

• £1,000 worth of illegal cigarettes was seized by Trading Standards.• 100 wraps of Class B drugs were seized by police.

  
  

• 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.

  
  

• 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.

For further information about the national operation, please view view the National Crime Agency’s website.