By Tony O’Reilly-
The National Crime Agency (NCA) recently coordinated Operation Machinize 2, the UK’s largest-ever crackdown on high street organised crime, resulting in over 920 arrests and the seizure of more than £10.7 million in suspected criminal proceeds. This month-long initiative targeted businesses such as mini-marts, vape shops, barbers, and takeaways suspected of involvement in money laundering, illegal sales, and tax evasion.
Operation Machinize 2, conducted throughout October 2025, involved thousands of officers from various agencies, including the NCA, local police forces, HMRC, and Trading Standards. The operation highlighted the use of these businesses as fronts for poly-criminality, where illicit funds are laundered and illegal goods are sold to evade taxes. Additionally, some businesses facilitated illegal immigration and working, often linked to people-smuggling networks. The operation also addressed the use of “ghost directors” to hide business ownership.
Key statistics from the operation include:
Arrests: 924 individuals.
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There was mass seizure in the form of over £10.7 million in suspected cash and frozen bank accounts £2.7 million worth of products destroyed, including millions of illegal cigarettes and vapes, and hundreds of kilograms of illicit tobacco and cannabis and 341 referral notices for illegal working and renting.
Since its establishment in 2013, the NCA has a strong record of disrupting serious and organised crime. Operation Venetic (Since 2020) Operation Venetic involved the infiltration of the encrypted communication platform EncroChat, widely used by criminals. This led to: Over 1,550 arrests in the UK.
Seizure of more than £56 million in criminal cash, 5.8 tonnes of drugs, and 115 firearms.
The NCA’s annual report for 2023-2024 showed a record number of disruptions: ,Over 38,000 total disruptions of organised crime, a 25% increase.
Over £230 million in criminal assets seized, frozen, or restrained, a 27% increase. Contributions to international drug seizures, including over 204,000kg of cocaine and 88,000kg of cannabis.
Operation Henhouse, a fraud crackdown, resulted in 438 arrests and substantial asset seizures. Targeting people smuggling networks led to the seizure of over 350 boats and engines and the sent
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The crackdown followed a BBC investigation exposing networks of “ghost directors” and Kurdish crime fixers offering to erase fines for illegal working. Rachael Herbert, director of the NCA’s National Economic Crime Centre, said, “Thousands of officers have been deployed up and down our country, targeting criminal profits and the means of generating them.”
Home Office security minister Dan Jarvis described the “dodgy shops” as fronts for organised crime, money laundering, and illegal employment. The operation involved all UK police forces alongside Trading Standards, HMRC, and Immigration Enforcement. MPs and trade bodies are calling for stronger legislative powers and harsher penalties to tackle serious crime on the High Street.
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