Seventy-five new police officers will be dedicated to tackling organised crime gangs operating on the high street, as the Home Office steps up efforts to prevent businesses including vape shops and mini marts being used as fronts for criminal activity.
The officers are part of a wider recruitment of more than 500 investigators over the next three years to target money laundering and recover criminal assets.
A new £20 million-backed National Crime Agency (NCA) unit will also focus on gangs using businesses as fronts for organised crime, while police are expected to receive stronger powers to close premises for up to a year where they are linked to criminal activity.
The new officers will be deployed across police forces, the NCA and Crown Prosecution Service.
“We are putting 500 more officers on the trail of dirty money, going after the criminal bosses behind organised crime and stripping them of the funds they use to fuel drug trafficking, people smuggling and other serious crime,” home secretary Shabana Mahmood said.
“By going after the profits of Britain's biggest gangs, we will break their grip on our communities, put the money back in victims' pockets and ensure crime does not pay.”
The crackdown comes amid concerns that criminals are increasingly exploiting legitimate businesses to move or disguise the proceeds of crime.
The Centre for Social Justice said criminal gangs had been able to launder money “in plain sight”, with its head of housing and communities, Joshua Nicholson, specifically highlighting “dodgy vape shops, mini marts, and barbers” on high streets.
“We welcome efforts to go after the bosses who have hijacked our high streets,” he said.
The government's wider strategy warns that the money-laundering threat is changing, with criminals increasingly using digital assets, fintech and artificial intelligence to move and conceal illicit funds.
According to the NCA, more than £100 billion could be laundered through the UK or UK corporate structures each year.
The new National Financial Intelligence Service, based within the NCA, will work with agencies including the Financial Conduct Authority to identify and disrupt criminal financial networks.
The strategy also proposes greater use of AI to process large datasets and identify suspicious patterns, alongside open-source intelligence to track criminal activity online.
The latest measures build on Operation Destabilise, an NCA investigation which exposed a major international money-laundering network and resulted in 119 arrests and the seizure of more than £25 million in cash and cryptocurrency.
The government said almost £350 million in criminal assets had been recovered and more than £1 billion in illicit funds denied to criminals during a year-long crackdown. More than 2,700 illicit finance operations were disrupted, while money-laundering convictions rose to almost 4,000.
Sal Melki, deputy director for economic crime at the NCA, said financial crime was “a corrosive threat that harms our communities and economy”.
“It puts money in the hands of those that traffic, abuse, scam and corrupt,” he said, adding that it “undercuts legitimate business” and deprives public services of funds.
The government will also consult on whether further changes are needed to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to give authorities additional powers to recover criminal assets.