EXCLUSIVE: The Mirror joined First Secretary of State Louise Haigh on a police raid as part of an operation to shut down dodgy shops piling misery on Britain’s high streets
Dodgy shops have been ignored for far too long despite brazenly operating in plain sight – but face being closed in their thousands, a senior Cabinet member said.
First Secretary of State Louise Haigh told The Mirror that the public has got fed up of criminals on their high streets. And a National Crime Agency (NCA) chief said around £1billion is laundered through tens of thousands of shops each year.
Speaking after witnessing a raid on two businesses, which saw police and NCA officers swoop on a barbers and mini-market in Surrey, Ms Haigh voiced her frustration at years of inaction.
Dozens of police descended on the businesses after locals voiced suspicions.
As officers combed through an innocuous-looking barber shop behind her, Andy Burnham’s second-in-command 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.”
And she continued: “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.
“This is just one part of our high street strategy to build thriving, successful communities.”
She joined officers during the dramatic raid in Walton-on-Thames – as part of Operation Machinize, a £30million crackdown on money laundering, tax evasion, drug dealing and illegal working. The government has pledged to get to grips with illegal activity on Britain’s high streets.
Describing the scale of the challenge, Ms Haigh said: “It’s prolific, and everybody knows this is happening in their local community and their local high streets. It’s just such a source of prolonged frustration for people that they can see it happening under their noses and, for too long, no action has been taken.
“So the Prime Minister has been really clear – he wants to see action taken for our high streets to restore pride in our communities, and this is just one part of our plan to do that.”
Officers searching the barber shop found a small area at the back with beds and a bathroom where four or five people were believed to be living.
On the day Ms Haigh spoke to this newspaper, dozens of raids were carried out across England and Wales. She said: “We see these empty shops being taken over by illicit businesses all the time, and then that really has a downward spiral on the community at large.
“It’s one of the biggest things that people raise when you go out talking to people about how they feel about their local community and their local high street. And for too long, it’s been neglected by too many governments.”
She continued: “It’s an enormous problem that needs to be tackled from its root.”
Law enforcement chiefs say criminals are operating at an enormous scale. Sal Melki, deputy director at the National Crime Agency (NCA), told The Mirror: “We estimate over £1billion 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.
“We’re coming out in numbers, and we’re sending a signal to these criminals that exploit our high streets.”
Explaining how dodgy businesses often operate, he said: “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.
“And that cash will often be the proceeds of, for example, the cocaine trade, cannabis and other offenses like trafficking as well. So, that’s one form of criminality.
“Sometimes the shops won’t necessarily be running the money through the tills, but what they’ll be is they’ll act as what we call poly-criminal hubs. So essentially a kind of social club for a wide range of criminals to congregate and set up different types of criminal schemes, be that fraud, immigration offenses and labour offenses.”
He said: “So it’s really important that the public know there isn’t one type of criminality. There isn’t one type of individual or one type of shop. And often the more sophisticated schemes are being run through shops that actually appear quite legitimate.”
