Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment has she made of the potential impact of money laundering by Turkish barber shops on (a) the community and (b) the wider economy.

Money laundering not only enables serious and organised crime and national security threats but impacts our communities by drawing people into crime, gangs, and exploitation. It also undermines the integrity of our financial system and impacts on economic prosperity and growth. Driving it down is an important part of this Government’s key missions to deliver safer streets and economic growth.

We know that cash intensive businesses such as barber shops can be exploited by criminals who seek to launder their cash enabling them to profit from their illegal activities. Addressing cash-based money laundering is therefore one of the strategic priorities of the National Economic Crime Centre (NECC), which sits within the National Crime Agency. In March, the NECC coordinated a three-week crackdown against barbershops and other cash intensive business across England and Wales involving 19 different police forces and Regional Organised Crime Units, as well as national agencies including HMRC, Trading Standards and Home Office Immigration Enforcement. In total, 380 premises were visited across the three-week operation, with officers securing freezing orders over bank accounts totalling more than £1m, executing 84 warrants and arresting 35 individuals. Officers also seized more than £40,000 in cash, 200,000 cigarettes, 7,000 packs of tobacco, over 8,000 illegal vapes and two vehicles.

This is the first phase of targeted action against criminals and organised crime groups who use high-street businesses to launder criminal monies, and the NECC is committed to continue working with Policing and partners to reduce this threat.