First it was dry cleaners, then it was nail bars and American Candy stores and now it's barber shops....
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/202...-sources-warn/
Barber shops could be used as fronts for criminal gangs to conceal human trafficking, slave labour, and drugs, a security expert has warned.
The explosion of barber shops in London and other major cities across the UK has led experts to call for an investigation into the businesses as some could be being used by criminal gangs in the same way that nail bars and car washes have been used in the past.
It is feared some are being run by Albanian and Kurdish gangs, who make money by smuggling migrants into the UK.
Former Metropolitan Police officer Ali Hassan Ali told The Mail on Sunday there had been a boom in barber shops opening since the pandemic.
“A lot of these shops have thousands of pounds of equipment but no customers,” he said.
“While in some cases the shops will be involved in legitimate business, from my own experience, there is strong reason to believe a large number, particularly those owned by Albanians, Turks and Kurds, have links to organised crime.”
The organised crime could involve people smuggling or drugs, he said, adding: “We know the people smuggling gangs in Calais have been traditionally operated by Kurds but they are now working with the Albanians.”
According to the National Hair and Beauty Federation, there are over 46,000 hair and beauty businesses in the UK, with three-quarters of these employing fewer than five people.
It said that while the pandemic caused some shops to close, numbers are increasing quickly, back to pre-pandemic levels.
The police officer behind the UK’s first child modern slavery prosecution previously warned that traditional Turkish barber shops are using slave labour, urging men who use the services to look out for exploitation.
Det Insp Charlotte Tucker’s two-year investigation into the forced labour of Vietnamese teenagers at Deluxe Nails in Bath and Gorgeous Nails in Burton-on-Trent resulted in the conviction of three people.
The young salon workers had been trafficked into the UK and were forced to work 60-hour weeks for little or no recompense.
In 2018 a kitemark-style scheme was introduced for car washes, to crack down on modern slavery, where the public would be able to choose a car wash displaying the scheme’s logo, meaning the site had passed an audit.
A National Crime Agency (NCA) spokesperson told The Telegraph: “Money laundering is a key factor of serious and organised crime.
“Businesses who trade in cash can be exploited by those seeking to conceal and legitimise their criminal gains.
“The NCA and its partners in law enforcement, government and the private sector are committed to disrupting the flow of illicit cash and preventing organised criminals from benefiting from their crimes.”
Last year, an NCA investigation found an Afghan barber from Cricklewood was using his barbershop in north-west London as a front to commit organised crime.
Gul Wali Jabarkhel had been offering lorry drivers thousands of pounds to illegally bring people into the UK from France and Belgium. He was jailed for 10 years alongside three other associates.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/202...-sources-warn/
Barber shops could be used as fronts for criminal gangs to conceal human trafficking, slave labour, and drugs, a security expert has warned.
The explosion of barber shops in London and other major cities across the UK has led experts to call for an investigation into the businesses as some could be being used by criminal gangs in the same way that nail bars and car washes have been used in the past.
It is feared some are being run by Albanian and Kurdish gangs, who make money by smuggling migrants into the UK.
Former Metropolitan Police officer Ali Hassan Ali told The Mail on Sunday there had been a boom in barber shops opening since the pandemic.
“A lot of these shops have thousands of pounds of equipment but no customers,” he said.
“While in some cases the shops will be involved in legitimate business, from my own experience, there is strong reason to believe a large number, particularly those owned by Albanians, Turks and Kurds, have links to organised crime.”
The organised crime could involve people smuggling or drugs, he said, adding: “We know the people smuggling gangs in Calais have been traditionally operated by Kurds but they are now working with the Albanians.”
According to the National Hair and Beauty Federation, there are over 46,000 hair and beauty businesses in the UK, with three-quarters of these employing fewer than five people.
It said that while the pandemic caused some shops to close, numbers are increasing quickly, back to pre-pandemic levels.
The police officer behind the UK’s first child modern slavery prosecution previously warned that traditional Turkish barber shops are using slave labour, urging men who use the services to look out for exploitation.
Det Insp Charlotte Tucker’s two-year investigation into the forced labour of Vietnamese teenagers at Deluxe Nails in Bath and Gorgeous Nails in Burton-on-Trent resulted in the conviction of three people.
The young salon workers had been trafficked into the UK and were forced to work 60-hour weeks for little or no recompense.
In 2018 a kitemark-style scheme was introduced for car washes, to crack down on modern slavery, where the public would be able to choose a car wash displaying the scheme’s logo, meaning the site had passed an audit.
A National Crime Agency (NCA) spokesperson told The Telegraph: “Money laundering is a key factor of serious and organised crime.
“Businesses who trade in cash can be exploited by those seeking to conceal and legitimise their criminal gains.
“The NCA and its partners in law enforcement, government and the private sector are committed to disrupting the flow of illicit cash and preventing organised criminals from benefiting from their crimes.”
Last year, an NCA investigation found an Afghan barber from Cricklewood was using his barbershop in north-west London as a front to commit organised crime.
Gul Wali Jabarkhel had been offering lorry drivers thousands of pounds to illegally bring people into the UK from France and Belgium. He was jailed for 10 years alongside three other associates.
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