Six arrests as Swindon businesses raided in police crackdown
Operation Machinize, a national month-long scheme, aimed to tackle money laundering and criminal use of cash-intensive high street businesses has seen 40 premises targeted in the town. Wiltshire Police are unable to name them at this time but confirmed that Manchester Road was a main target and six Immigration Act offence arrests have been made. Sniffer dog teams were deployed as part of the operation.
Detective Inspector Steve Edwards, who lead the initiative, said Swindon was a key focus in the huge investigation that saw 75 premises targeted in Wiltshire - more than half of which were in Swindon. "We had some trading standards-related offending, so the seizure of illegal goods - illegal vapes, illegal tobacco, or tobacco that was mislabelled. And the police managed to seize some drug paraphernalia as well," said DI Edwards.
"I would say that is the biggest issue facing Swindon residents in the theme of what we are talking about, because these cash-intensive high street premises which do choose to operate criminally, feed into much wider criminal activities elsewhere such as drug supply, organised immigration crime and labour exploitation. "Whilst there are many legitimate businesses who might choose to use that type of financing for whatever reason, there are others who use that in order to wash criminal funds and conduct money laundering - where funds from illicit criminal activities are washed through those businesses, in order to appear as legitimate income. "It's going to take a long-sustained momentum between police and partner agencies, to tackle that," he said.
In a message to Swindon residents, he added: "Report suspicious activity to us so that we can take further action. Do businesses in your area operate as cash-only and do you have concerns over criminality being conducted in those places? "Please report these concerns to us either directly or via Crimestoppers, so we can take action alongside out partner agencies as part of the multi-agency approach to dismantle this crime type being conducted on our high streets."
A national month-long operation was co-ordinated by the National Crime[1] Agency in October, after estimates that GBP12bn of criminal cash is generated in the U.K each year. Operation Machinize was the second operation of its kind in the U.K since March this year, and aimed to tackle money laundering and criminal use of cash-intensive high street businesses. It involved every police force and Regional Organised Crime Unit across the U.K, along with the Home Office Immigration Enforcement, Trading Standards, HM Revenue and Customs and Companies House.
The Wiltshire branch of Operation Machinize was split into four 'themed' weeks. Week one focused on technology shops, barber shops, bake shops, mini markets, and other similar businesses. The second week focused on delivery drivers/couriers, such as Deliveroo and Just Eat, with the third week looking at labour exploitation, at sites such as car washes and nail bars.
The final week was centred around food and take-away premises. Nationally, 2,734 premises were visited and raided as part of this operation, with 924 individuals arrested, and over GBP10.7m of suspected criminal proceeds seized. The illegal cash generated from these activities is typically smuggled out of the country or integrated into financial systems, often to be recycled back into criminality.
"Earlier this year, the NCA established Operation Machinize after identifying the criminal exploitation of high street businesses was beyond the scope of any one organisation," said Wiltshire Police. "Working in partnership with the NPCC, it aims to catalyse a large-scale operational response to a multi-faceted problem. "This approach - coordinated nationally and delivered in our communities - ensures the most effective use of powers and capabilities, capitalising on the strengths and remits of each participating agency."
"Locally, it is important to maintain momentum on this type of criminality. We can't just solve this in a month, and we can't stop after a month," added DI Edwards. "This has to be sustained, this has to remain a focus and a priority between us and other partner agencies.
No single agency can solve this on our own - it has to be all of us or none of us."