Picture NCA. Seized vapes

Hundreds of barber shops nationwide have been hit by the police in a campaign to tackle money laundering and modern slavery.

Over the last three weeks dozens of people have been arrested during Operation Machinize.

More than £1 million was frozen as the police raided 265 High Street “cash-intensive” businesses.

Nail salons, vape shops, and barber shops were targeted in the raids.

Ten shops were shut down and the National Crime Agency (NCA) expects further closures.

Many shops were Turkish-style barbers.

The shops have proliferated on Britain’s streets over the last few years.

Most offer a traditional shave with hot towels and a cut-throat razor.

However, security chiefs believe the shops are a front for Albanian and Kurdish gangs to cover human trafficking, slave labour, and drugs.

The NCA said the raids involved 19 police forces and regional organized crime squads.

Thirty-five people were arrested.

And 97 individuals – suspected to be victims of modern slavery – were placed under police protection.

Officers secured freezing orders over bank accounts totalling more than £1 million and seized more than £40,000 in cash, some 200,000 cigarettes, 7,000 packs of tobacco and more than 8,000 illegal vapes.

Two cannabis farms containing a total of 150 plants were also uncovered.

The NCA estimates that £12 billion of criminal cash is generated in the UK each year.

Rachael Herbert, the deputy director of the National Economic Crime Centre at the NCA, said:

“We know cash-intensive businesses are used as fronts for money laundering, facilitating some of the highest harm and highest impact offending in the UK.

“We have seen links to drug trafficking and distribution, organised immigration crime, modern slavery and human trafficking, firearms, and the sale of illicit tobacco and vapes.

“Operation Machinize targeted barbershops and other high street businesses being used as cover for a whole range of criminality, all across the country.”

The agency said in a statement:

“Cash-intensive businesses such as barbershops, vape shops, criminals often use nail bars, American-themed sweet shops and car washes to launder money.

“Crime gangs use them to enter cash into the financial system, mixing legitimate funds with criminal profits to hinder subsequent law enforcement investigations.

“They are known to buy such businesses using the proceeds of crime, which provides them with a legitimate income and opportunities for money laundering.”

Dan Jarvis, the security minister, said:

“High Street crime undermines our security, our borders, and the confidence of our communities.

“I am determined to take the decisive action necessary to bring those responsible to justice.

“This successful NCA-led operation highlights the scale and complexity of the criminality our towns and cities face and demonstrates our collective determination to make our streets safer, a key pillar of this Government’s plan for change.

“We will continue to support the NCA, and other law enforcement partners, as we make the UK an even more hostile environment for organised crime.”