To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the annual value of money laundering operations conducted through businesses presenting as Turkish barber shops; what proportion this represents of total estimated money laundering activity; and what steps she is taking to help tackle this financial crime.
Answered on
15 May 2025
The National Crime Agency estimates that over £12bn in criminal cash is generated each year in the UK and the Government recognises that cash intensive businesses that are exploited by criminals such as barber shops, can contribute to this.
Addressing cash-based money laundering is 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 businesses 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 arrested 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.