UK Commits £500M and 500 Officers to Money Laundering Crackdown

The UK government will recruit 500 new officers as part of a three-year, £500 million (approx. $670 million) crackdown on money laundering and criminal assets.

The funding, backed by the economic crime levy paid by regulated businesses, will support a new Anti-Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Strategy. The new officers will be deployed across police forces, the National Crime Agency (NCA), and the Crown Prosecution Service to trace illicit funds, seize assets, and target the leaders of organized crime networks.

The NCA estimates that more than £100 billion (approx. $134 billion) is laundered through the UK or UK corporate structures each year. According to the Home Office, the threat has grown alongside the use of cryptoassets and AI, increasing the complexity of financial crime investigations.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: 

We are putting 500 more officers on the trail of dirty money, going after the criminal bosses behind organised crime and stripping them of the funds they use to fuel drug trafficking, people smuggling and other serious crime. By going after the profits of Britain’s biggest gangs, we will break their grip on our communities, put the money back in victims’ pockets and ensure crime does not pay.

The plan also builds on the High Street Organised Crime Unit’s nationwide crackdown on businesses suspected of serving as criminal fronts. Police and trading standards have received additional funding, while planned changes to closure order laws will strengthen action against businesses suspected of being used to conceal criminal activity. 

Joshua Nicholson of the Centre for Social Justice said criminal gangs had been laundering money “in plain sight” through vape shops, mini-marts, and barbers.