To think that (some) vaping shops and barbers are fronts ....

[crockofshite]

..... for dodgy dealings? There are so many of these shops in every high street, how can there be enough customers to support them?

God! Really??

The Police tend not to go for the tow rags that sell the street drugs, they're trying to find the king pins of these groups to close the whole lot down.

Brilliant series! Must watch it again before it disappears off Netflix!

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5306127-maxie-allen-and-rosalind-levine-arrested-the-vindictiveness-of-the-school-and-police-overreach?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=app_share

Another one. Shop closes. Then reopens under the same name selling the same stuff. Closes down again for months. Repeat.

Well everyone in my area knows exactly who the king pin is and where he and his family live. They also know which private security firm they use and who their very expensive lawyers and accountants are. The police just don't even want to go there. Too risky and too much work.

You haven't heard of cat cafes or seen the news about Whatsapp groups, are you spending too much time thinking about shops that everyone knows are for money laundering 😁

There's a fish and chip shop and an ice cream parlour across the road from where I work.

Doesn't matter what time of day or night you go by, there is never a single person in there. Not a soul. Ever. Not even staff. Yet they stay tidy and the lights go on in the evening. So not abandoned.

Same with the two 'grill' type takeaway places. Perpetually empty.

Of course they are

It's disgraceful that it's so blatant. It's like crime has been decriminalised.

These drive me nuts. In my business we have government inspectors who measure cm’s of concrete to ensure the taxpayers money is being used fairly. Quite right too. Imagine if the government put in the same amount of effort to people who fight back.

Why the hell are we not going after these clearly illegal money laundering or drug front shops.

Baffling

Money laundering.

I live in a very naice village in the Home Counties. Three pubs, two all the villagers chat about and use, other one prime position overlooking the common, very well maintained, but blinds closed and always a couple of random white vans in the car park, nothing else. When I was a newbie in the village I popped in and asked for glass of wine. Tumbleweed… bloke behind the counter just looked at me, dead silent for what felt like forever, and then quietly said, ‘We don’t serve wine’. Strangely enough I’ve never been back! At least the criminals keep the flintwork on it in perfect condition…

Yes my DH used to go to one in London before we moved areas which was always full of men getting spa like treatment with hair nicely cut and facials and nasal, ear and monobrow removal with black heads squeezed etc and head and shoulder massaged, with hot towels lol and the old guy that owned it was there for maybe 40+ years so was always super busy so doubt he was laundering money. The customers were such a mix from different ethnic backgrounds and race from old to young and little kids but now in my new area there are about 5 of these barber shops and are always empty and I heard them speak not Turkish as I'm familiar with the language after living in North London for so long so what you said might be true.

www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3677xzk56no

Of course they are.. loads of vape shops round here .. owners got " done" or shut down for money laundering.

yes, particularly Turkish restaurants, barbers and Asian nail bars.

Not UK, but it's similar here. Nicotine vapes are only dispensed by pharmacists now & I've noticed an uptick in traditional cigarette smoking. There's a LOT of tobacco shops. Mostly, it's illegal tobacco sales because our tax on cigarettes is sky high.

I had a mum of DS's school friend casually telling me she went to X place & just paid X (cheap) amount for a huge number of cigarettes. She had no idea / didn't want to know she was buying illegal products, just wanted her cheap ciggies.

There's wars going on in one major city. The gangs are burning each other's shop fronts down.

I just saw this on the BBC news site, OP and thought of this thread!

Of course they are well dodgy.
I only go to a hair salon owned by white english people.
No im not racist in any way but I want to protect myself from anything illegal.
Lots of beauty salons run by untrained people too no thanks.
I epilate my legs myself.
I dye my own hair I only get a dry cut.

You only think? I'd say it's a given.

I go to an acupuncturist in a dusty Chinese medicine shop. Looks just how you describe. But it's definitely an acupuncturist, and he definitely has many clients, because you can hear them talking with him when you're doing the relaxing part. It costs quite a bit, he probably turns over about £100ph, so not sure he needs to launder money as well.

Anyone know what street this is? Think it's in Rochdale, judging by what was on the news.