West Yorkshire Police strikes major blow against high street money laundering

Throughout October, as part of Operation Machinize 2, officers executed search warrants at multiple addresses across West Yorkshire including Leeds.

Businesses under investigation included vape shops, barber shops, beauty parlours, corner shops, estate agents, cafés, sweet shops as well as professionals suspected of aiding the laundering process.

The results were significant:

* £2.7 million in suspected criminal assets seized - including luxury jewellery and watches, high-value vehicles, cash, gold and silver.

* Restraint Orders to effectively freeze £4 million in property and bank accounts.

* Specialist powers used to freeze nine business bank accounts, locking down £360,000, with £270,000 already earmarked for forfeiture.

* Seizure of £173,000 worth of controlled drugs.

* Ten companies struck off at Companies House.

West Yorkshire Trading Standards also joined the effort, recovering large quantities of counterfeit cigarettes and illegal vapes.

Money laundering is a process performed by criminals in an attempt to make criminally obtained money appear legitimate.

Detective Chief Inspector Lisa Jones, head of West Yorkshire Police’s Economic Crime Unit, said: “Money laundering allows criminals to profit from drug dealing, tax evasion and other serious crime.

“By tackling the businesses that make money laundering possible, we are making it more difficult for the organised criminals who are involved in selling controlled drugs and other illegal activity to conduct their trade.

“In the vast majority of cases, people are attracted to crime to quickly obtain significant amounts of money.

“Unless criminals are able to use this money, there is little reason to commit the offences that generate it.

“By targeting those who enable this process, we make it harder for criminals to thrive and protect legitimate high street businesses.”

We urge communities to help us by reporting suspicious activity.

Call West Yorkshire Police on 101 or go online at: https://www.westyorkshire.police.uk/LiveChat

Or call independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Always call 999 in an emergency.