Meet the organisation turning vacant high street buildings into thriving communities

A pattern emerging elsewhere

While Ipswich residents have yet to witness raids on local businesses, a stark scene is unfolding elsewhere: officers forcing their way into brightly-coloured barber shops, vape stores, minimarts, candy stores and phone repair shops that have proliferated across town centres.

Last month, the National Crime Agency (NCA) coordinated 265 raids on such premises across England and Wales as part of Operation Machinize, targeting high street businesses suspected of being fronts for international crime gangs – but it remains unclear if Suffolk, or Ipswich, has been part of this operation.

Shrewsbury and Ipswich: towns with similar profiles

In Shrewsbury, a market town not dissimilar to Ipswich, officers detained two Kurdish asylum seekers during raids on barber shops, seizing thousands of pounds in cash and illicit vapes. The intelligence suggested these establishments were linked to money laundering, illegal immigration and drug dealing.

The parallels between Shrewsbury and Ipswich are difficult to ignore. Both are historic county towns with traditional market squares, and a mix of independent and chain retailers. Both have experienced the same influx of barber shops, vape stores, minimarts, candy stores and phone repair shops on their high street.

Yet while Shrewsbury has seen decisive action, Ipswich residents have yet to witness any comparable enforcement activity. At least not visibly. And if it has, it has yet to make any difference.

The Ipswich landscape

According to commercial property analysts Green Street, the average number of barbers per person in England and Wales has doubled in the past decade.

Walk through Ipswich town centre and the changing retail landscape is evident – multiple barber shops, vape outlets, phone repair shops and sweet shops often within yards of each other, typically with very few visible customers.

It is important to note that we are not suggesting any specific businesses in Ipswich are engaged in illegal activity. The presence of these shops alone does not indicate wrongdoing, and many could be legitimate businesses.

But questions should be asked. And questions are being asked – repeatedly – by residents.

The scale of the problem

The National Crime Agency estimates that £12 billion in illicit cash is laundered in the UK annually, with lots of it flowing through criminal front organisations on high streets.

These businesses appeared to surge as shop vacancies grew following the pandemic, creating opportunities for criminal gangs to establish themselves in plain sight.

The suspicious signs are easy to spot: businesses claiming implausible income levels, unpaid utility bills despite supposed high turnover, and the sale of illicit products like illegal vapes and tobacco.

In Greater Manchester, linked mini-marts were found to be staffed by asylum seekers, some working illegally, with hidden compartments concealing contraband.

What Operation Machinize uncovered

During Operation Machinize, authorities discovered cannabis farms, seized Class A drugs, arrested 35 people and questioned 55 suspected illegal immigrants. Three potential victims of modern slavery were identified. Bank accounts worth over £1 million were frozen and £40,000 in cash seized.

Detective Inspector Daniel Fenn, who led raids in Shrewsbury as part of the operation, said: "Members of the public are angry. They can see these fronts are there. The criminals feel they are hidden here. They think they can come to sleepy areas and won't be found."

The same could easily be said of Ipswich.

The pattern of exploitation is particularly concerning – the NCA believes some shops are used as fronts for drug-trafficking, people-smuggling, modern slavery and child sexual exploitation. In 2023, it secured the conviction of one Iranian Kurdish barber shop owner who was using his London premises as a base for smuggling 10,000 people to the UK in small boats.

Impact on legitimate businesses

Legitimate barbers are calling for a registration scheme and stricter regulation. Gareth Penn, chief executive of the Hair and Barber Council, highlighted how illegal barbers have led to fungal infections from improperly cleaned equipment.

More importantly, though, is the damage being done to genuine businesses that cannot compete with those avoiding costs and taxes, and those that cannot find suitable high street premises.

The damage is significant and potentially long-lasting.

Will Ipswich be next?

For Ipswich, the question now is whether Operation Machinize will visibly extend to Suffolk – or indeed, whether it already has without public knowledge.

Unlike local police forces, the National Crime Agency is exempt from Freedom of Information requests, making it impossible for journalists or the public to determine how many Ipswich businesses, if any, have been investigated.

This distinction is important.

While local police forces handle everyday law enforcement, the NCA was specifically created to tackle serious and organised crime that extends across police force boundaries, international borders, or requires specialist capabilities.

Their involvement signals that these high street businesses are not merely local issues but part of sophisticated criminal networks operating nationally and internationally.

Security Minister Dan Jarvis has stated that "high street crime undermines our security, our borders, and the confidence of our communities", promising "decisive action" to bring those responsible to justice.

The road ahead

There are concerns about the effectiveness of current measures. Of the 265 raids conducted, only 10 shops have been shut down permanently. Many businesses raided were back operating within minutes of officers leaving.

The challenge for authorities extends beyond individual shops to dismantling the organised crime networks behind them – networks that may have been profiting in plain sight for years on our high streets. While local police forces can target individual businesses, only the NCA has the mandate and resources to tackle the international networks behind them.

For Ipswich residents concerned about these issues, the prospect of action against suspicious businesses cannot come soon enough. However, due to the secretive nature of NCA operations, we may never know the full extent of their activities in our town – only their results, if and when they choose to make them public.