More shop and barber raids to come, says inspector

A police inspector in charge of an operation investigating high street businesses acting as fronts for criminal activity has said there are more raids to come.

Raids in Shrewsbury, Hereford and Worcester, were amongst 265 carried out across England and Wales as part of a crackdown on businesses - often Turkish-style barbers, vape shops and mini-marts - suspected of being fronts for international crime gangs.

Det Insp Daniel Fenn of West Mercia Police said from the 33 warrants issued, four arrests for money laundering and immigration offences were made.

He told BBC Radio Shropshire: "You shouldn't be worried about going into a barber shop because some of them are being run legally."

"However, the signs to look out for are if a shop is always closed, are they being run at odd times, do you see quite a lot of activity during the night time hours, do they have very few customers but lots of workers in the shop, for example">Bike Worcester says it recorded 300 offences in 24 hours in Foregate Street last October.