Police have arrested eight people in raids on 75 businesses across Wiltshire – as part of a month-long national crackdown on high street crime.
Operation Machinize 2, coordinated by the National Crime Agency, ran throughout October and targeted cash-intensive premises suspected of money laundering and other criminal activity.
Police forces across the UK took part in the operation, supported by partner agencies including Trading Standards, HM Revenue and Customs, Companies House and Home Office Immigration Enforcement.
Police said the activity focused on a range of businesses, including barbers, vape shops, technology stores, nail bars, car washes, restaurants, takeaways and premises using delivery drivers.
In Wiltshire alone, eight people were arrested, and 19 vehicles and drivers were also stopped and checked. Items seized included illegal vapes, illicit tobacco and drug-related paraphernalia.
Detective Inspector Steve Edwards, Wiltshire Police lead for Operation Machinize, said: “Operation Machinize is about cracking down on dishonest businesses being used to hide serious criminal activity.
“Across Wiltshire, our officers and staff have teamed up with Trading Standards, HMRC, Immigration and Enforcement and the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit as part of intelligence-led activity targeting criminal activities within and surrounding our high streets, including money laundering, modern slavery and serious organised crime.
“Businesses are being used as fronts for criminal activities which harm our communities, and we want to show there is no place for them in Wiltshire.”
He added that the operation had been a significant effort, both locally and nationally.
“Wiltshire Police’s own efforts included drawing upon expertise from various areas of the force, including neighbourhoods, specialist operations teams, intelligence, financial and complex fraud investigation, cybercrime, and exploitation teams,” he continued.
“While most shops are doing things right, including many which officers visited during this period, this operation shows we’re serious about tackling crime wherever it hides-and we’re not stopping here.”
Nationally, the operation recorded more than 2,700 visits and raids, resulting in over 900 arrests and the seizure or freezing of millions of pounds in suspected criminal proceeds.
Hundreds of thousands of illegal cigarettes, vapes and other illicit goods were removed from circulation.
The NCA said businesses on high streets across the country continue to be exploited for money laundering, tax evasion, illegal working and other criminality linked to organised crime groups.
Rachael Herbert, Director of the National Economic Crime Centre at the NCA, said: “Operation Machinize targets businesses on our high street that are being used as cover for a wide range of criminality, making our communities less safe and less prosperous.
“This second phase of Operation Machinize has set a new standard for what can be achieved through the coordinated action of UK law enforcement.
“Thousands of officers have been deployed up and down our country, targeting criminal profits and the means of generating them.
“Hundreds of thousands of harmful and illegal products have been taken off our streets, and over £10m in cash, frozen in bank accounts and criminal assets seized.
“Depriving criminals of their source of income has a real impact, limiting the amount of funds they can reinvest in further offending and deterring them from taking spaces on our high street that could be used by legitimate businesses.”
This was echoed by Sal Melki, Senior Lead for Machinize 2 at the NCA, who said the operation had pioneered a whole-system approach to addressing this problem, Those taking part could share their powers, expertise, and energy to tackling an issue the British public care about.
“Over the course of the month, we have learnt a lot about the threat, the different types of offending occurring on our high street and what tactics are effective in combating it,” they added.
“The scale of this challenge is significant, but it is also important to remember that the majority of shops on our high streets are not considered suspicious.”
