A nationwide investigation is underway into the rise in Turkish-style barber shops on high streets over fears that premises are being used by gangsters for money laundering and other organised crime. The investigation has been launched by the National Crime Agency (NCA) and its officers have overseen dozens of raids across the country over the past month, according to The Sunday Times.
This has reportedly resulted in numerous arrests and tens of thousands of pounds being seized. The investigation has involved a “large number” of police forces, HMRC and Home Office Immigration Enforcement, an NCA spokesperson said. It is suspected that many of the barber shops are being used as a front to launder drug money and other criminal profits, in addition to providing work for illegal migrants.
The Sunday Times reports that in some raids carried out in north-east England, tax inspectors are understood to have counted the number of chairs in a salon and secretly recorded the number of customers entering the shop to see if it tallied with the profits declared by the business.
According to retail analytics company Green Street, the number of barber shops of all types across the UK has increased by more than 50 per cent since 2018 to over 18,000, with more than 750 opening last year.
Most Turkish-style barbers are legitimate businesses and the shops targeted in this month’s operations were predominantly cash-only, The Sunday Times reports.
While shops often described themselves as “Turkish” barbers, reportedly many are run by Kurds or Albanians.
Criminals from both these communities have been linked to drugs and people smuggling, the newspaper said in its report.
An NCA spokesperson said: “The NCA is committed to disrupting the flow of illicit cash and preventing organised criminals from benefitting from their crimes.
“Intelligence linking the use of barbershops, as well as other cash-intensive businesses, to money laundering and other criminality has risen in recent years. To respond to this threat the NCA has coordinated multi-agency law enforcement action targeting barbershops where suspicious activity has been identified, and there are possible connections to organised crime.
“This has involved a large number of Police Forces across England and Wales, as well as other partners including HMRC and Home Office Immigration Enforcement.”
