Organized crime gangs are exploiting seemingly ordinary shops on Britain's High Street to launder money and traffic workers, experts and business owners warn. The rise in shoplifting has raised concerns, but the more serious issue is the use of businesses like nail bars, tanning salons, takeaways, convenience stores, and cafes as fronts for criminal activity. Gangs launder money by inflating revenues to disguise dirty cash, while trafficked workers are forced to work long hours for little or no pay. The proliferation of small, cash-based businesses has fueled these fears, with the number of beauty salons, takeaways, and convenience stores significantly increasing in recent years.
Crime s including money laundering and modern slavery are 'taking place in plain sight' on the High Street - with organised gangs using seemingly ordinary shops as fronts for their illicit empires.
An explosion in the number of small businesses that largely take cash has only fuelled these fears, with ONS data analysed by MailOnline showing there 88 per cent more beauty salons than 10 years ago, 60 per cent more takeaways and 18 per cent more convenience stores. Safia Khalid, who had owned Safia Beauty Bar for 12 years, said she operated her business to 'the highest possible standards' but feared the struggles faced by other High Street shops had led to other owners 'cutting corners'.
'Modern slavery can often be hidden in plain sight, particularly in high street businesses like nail bars,' she told MailOnline. Putting some of this cash through the tills of High Street shops allows it to be mixed with legitimate income from customers, making it seem like legitimate profit. Edris Salim, the 42-year-old owner of Ed's Barbers, said: 'Salons can just pop up out of nowhere and then close again and it does make me wonder what is going on'
'County lines gangs are a little bit different, as advancements in digital currencies and successful proceeds of crime actions mean it's less common to open up shop front businesses,' he said. WEST MIDLANDS: The town of Sedgley, where there are numerous Turkish barbers. There is no suggestion the premises pictured is involved in anything illegal
The longest sentence of seven years' imprisonment was handed to Ali Khaleel Hassan Aldarawish, a 34-year-old from Cardiff who was convicted of laundering more than £792,000.
Business MONEY LAUNDERING MODERN SLAVERY ORGANIZED CRIME HIGH STREET BUSINESSES
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