High Street crime, vape shops, etc...

[glazbagun]

I was going to post earlier that the BBC seems to be doing some concentrated investigation of organised crime coming from vape shops and similar small businesses. This latest article reminded me again:

Threats to kill Trading Standards officers, car rammed off road by defendant.

TradingStandards said:

More than 70% of officers - who work for local authorities in England, Wales and Scotland, and more centrally in Northern Ireland - have faced threats of intimidation or violence, the survey found.

In some areas, half of all mini-marts and vape shops, and up to a third of American candy stores are thought to have links to organised crime, the survey results also suggest.

From April: High Street mini-marts selling cocaine, cannabis and prescription drugs

Last year A Kurdish crime network is enabling migrants to work illegally in mini-marts on High Streets the length of Britain

I have often wondered how so many obviously dodgy shops can operate for so long when even the public know about the place.

[bigglesA110]

I read this one. I'm sure it's a huge issue and something Government needs to get a grip of. Don't make it about immigration as that just distracts things - sure it's foreign organised crime - but just to leave poor local authority trading standards people to be on the front line seems pathetic. If it's so clearly money laundering and it's so obviously vape shops, barbers, American Candy Stores, get in there and close them down. Zero tolerance. Once it gets a grip, which it maybe already has, it'll be so much harder to snub out.

I see these places, loads of staff, never any customers. It's totally obvious what they are. Why do we have to put up with it?

[oyster]

bigglesA110 said:

I read this one. I'm sure it's a huge issue and something Government needs to get a grip of. Don't make it about immigration as that just distracts things - sure it's foreign organised crime - but just to leave poor local authority trading standards people to be on the front line seems pathetic. If it's so clearly money laundering and it's so obviously vape shops, barbers, American Candy Stores, get in there and close them down. Zero tolerance. Once it gets a grip, which it maybe already has, it'll be so much harder to snub out.

I see these places, loads of staff, never any customers. It's totally obvious what they are. Why do we have to put up with it?

We meep voting for it.

More welfare, more pensions, less taxes.

[Kwackersaki]

On the news now. We’ve imported a whole new crime syndicate into this country and they don’t give a fk about our laws.

[BikeBikeBIke]

glazbagun said:

I have often wondered how so many obviously dodgy shops can operate for so long when even the public know about the place.

Operation Machinize is doing a lot:

https://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/news/operat...

Given that they get to seize the assets I'm astonished they don't massively scale it up and make it self funding, like speed cameras.

[Police State]

bigglesA110 said:

I read this one. I'm sure it's a huge issue and something Government needs to get a grip of. Don't make it about immigration as that just distracts things - sure it's foreign organised crime - but just to leave poor local authority trading standards people to be on the front line seems pathetic. If it's so clearly money laundering and it's so obviously vape shops, barbers, American Candy Stores, get in there and close them down. Zero tolerance. Once it gets a grip, which it maybe already has, it'll be so much harder to snub out.

I see these places, loads of staff, never any customers. It's totally obvious what they are. Why do we have to put up with it?

you say, "Don't make it about immigration as that just distracts things"
and there in lies the reason this will not be resolved.

I say, It's all about immigration.

3rd world imports dragging society into an entirely different 'rules based' system.

Talk all you like about other social pressures, economy, jobs, single mothers, absent fathers, the price of a loaf, not enough police, everything else on the menu, ad nauseam...

[thetapeworm]

I'm watching the report on BBC1 at the moment, it's absolutely shocking that this is happening but the fines and other punishments being handed out are pathetic.

Trading standards visited my little town recently and magically found counterfeit cigarettes and other illegal items in several if the new, gaudy-branded, neon lit, "mini markets" that remain open today.

We see them open, we see the signs and shop fronts installed without planning and contrary to restrictions in a protected heritage area and then people are shocked when these businesses are found to be operating above the law.

But the "better than an empty shop" people think this is acceptable.

Oh, the Albanian guy from 100s of miles away is asking for an alcohol license for a new shop? Sure, I mean he's been prosecuted several times over the sale of illegal goods in his other shops but I'm sure he's a changed man now right? Oh... apparently not, we could never have predicted that

It's serious organised crime and needs serious organised action at all levels.

Edited by thetapeworm on Thursday 30th April 08:27

[Bluevanman]

thetapeworm said:

I'm watching the report on BBC1 at the moment, it's absolutely shocking that this is happening but the fines and other punishments being handed out are pathetic.

Trading standards visited my little town recently and magically found counterfeit cigarettes and other illegal items in several if the new, gaudy-branded, neon lit, "mini markets" that remain open toda

But the "better than an empty shop" people think this is acceptable.

It's serious organised crime and needs serious organised action at all levels.

I suspect the councils think that too,they get the rates and maybe also the rent if the shop is council owned and they don't get moaned at so much by the public about another empty shop

[StevieBee]

bigglesA110 said:

I see these places, loads of staff, never any customers. It's totally obvious what they are. Why do we have to put up with it?

It's the difference between knowing and proving. A bit easier with shops selling drugs under the counter but exceptionally difficult when it comes to money laundering outfits.

Take your typical Barber's. How can you prove that the £100 tip a bloke left for a £10 trim wasn't genuine?

[southendpier]

if the company that owns the outfit is paying a certain amount of Corp tax and VAT and the "employees" are coughing up PAYE and NI....then the government gets its (back) hand out.

The fact that the employee is on the run from X country and lives in a bedroom shared by 3 other fellas above the shop (as confessed by the last fella who cut my hair) - we can ignore that.

I was talking the the owner of the local Bangladeshi Curry house to us - he said when they do raids there is a deal that everyone phones each other up and stuff and people can disappear for a couple of nights. He wasn't concerned about the raids per se but more that the level of trust between each business meant they would and should always call.

The level of black market crime is off the scale in this country. Our aim appears to become a 3rd world st hole.

[BikeBikeBIke]

Bluevanman said:

I suspect the councils think that too,they get the rates and maybe also the rent if the shop is council owned and they don't get moaned at so much by the public about another empty shop

...and the government get to tax organised crime. We live in mad times.

[jmn]

2 Shops in my area (East Devon) recently raided and subsequently shut down by the Police.

In one shop £100k in cash was found.

The other was selling Vapes to children which contained Spice ..

[oyster]

Eliminate cash? Would that work?

I used a £5 note yesterday, first time i’d touched cash in 2026.

[Mr Whippy]

Where is the SOCA force? Didn't we make a big thing about getting one going and yet it feels like all this stuff is just getting worse?

It's not great for social cohesion if the laws and the force of law aren't applied consistently, and especially not when they're applied asymetrically across cultural/racial/ethnic (which word are we 'allowed' to use these days) boundaries.

But let them crack on I say. The more they take the piss the faster and more brutal the eventual societal repurcussions.

[BikeBikeBIke]

oyster said:

Eliminate cash? Would that work?

I used a £5 note yesterday, first time i d touched cash in 2026.

I was thinking that but that would catch all the tradesmen who use a lot of cash. I have a feeling if they had to pay tax on every penny they'd just go out of business.

I've got a horrible feeling "they" have set the economy up so the black economy is actually the best functioning part of the economy. If you want to design and build a product in the UK the red tape is so stifling you have to do it abroad. If you want sell drugs the government doesn't stand in your way, normal economics applies and you thrive: No minimum wage, no industrial tribunals no HR. Modern slavery is positively smiled on.

Plus wouldn't the vape shops just use bitcoin?

[Randy Winkman]

I agree with those that say the government/police should get involved and not leave it to local under-resourced enforcement people.

I feel sorry for legitimate traders. That's not so much of an issue with vapes but there has been a men's hairdressers up the road from me for about 30 years in a small parade of shops and they now have 2 other men's hairdressers within about 100 yards.

[AbbeyNormal]

There are three (yes three!!) art studios in my town, hardly ever see anyone in them.

Where do i report them for money laundering as it must be really easy to walk in pay £9,000 cash for a picture his daughter painted at school and then launder it through the banking system. In fact, dont bother with the painting, just make it look like you have sold it. Ten pictures a month should do it. (usual 15% margin for laundering.

[Ziplobb]

What is needed is hard enforcement the kind of thing foreign criminals are used to in other jurisdictions . Trading standards officers are out of their depth and our law was never designed to combat what is going on . It needs to be changed to deal wit this new threat. These are thugs and bullies and they need to be dealt with as such. It needs teams of hard men (ex military) to show force and deal with these individuals robustly. It's how they would be dealt with elsewhere in the world and frankly what they are used to. We are seen as weak and soft and when enforcement is by trading standards it sends the wrong type of message.

[MCBrowncoat]

I used to live just off a pretty well known high street in North London, and on my street there was a supposed "[redacted] travel agency" that looked like nothing of the sort when you walked past. It usually had three or four men in leather jackets sat around a table smoking cigarettes and a fruit machine in the corner. It was bloody ridiculous, but also hilarious. I wonder if anyone went in actually wanting to book a holiday.

[boyse7en]

It's pretty ironic reading all the posts about "something must be done!", "shut them down" etc and then bemoaning the amount of red tape foisted on businesses.
Without increasing the red tape, you can't shut them down. Trading standards has a limited amount of power, and the loopholes are many and are being exploited by the gangs.

Differentiating between a suspected money laundering business and a legitimate business can't be done simply on the fact that you don't like the colour or accent of the guy behind the counter