Hundreds of new officers will be recruited to track dirty money, disrupt organised crime networks and seize criminal assets under a major new crackdown.
New officers will be deployed across police forces, the NCA and the CPS to follow the money behind serious and organised crime, including through Russian and other international money laundering networks, News Cover reports, citing the UK government's official website.
The new investigators will focus on going after the kingpins behind Britain’s dirty money trade. By blocking and seizing their money, we will cut off the cash that fuels organised crime, from drug trafficking and people smuggling to the sham businesses that blight our high streets.
Backed by £500 million of investment over three years from the economic crime levy, the crackdown forms part of the new Anti-Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Strategy, which sets out how the UK will make it harder for criminals to hide, move or profit from crime.
It comes alongside new figures showing that almost £350 million of dirty money was stripped from criminals and over £1 billion denied in a year long crackdown on dirty money. Twenty six million pounds was returned into the pockets of victims, 2,700 illicit finance operations disrupted and convictions for money laundering have increased to almost 4,000. A significant portion of money recovered from criminals will be directed towards public services and law enforcement, ensuring that the proceeds of crime are put to work protecting the public.
Almost £1 million was stripped from people smugglers and immigration offenders throughout the past year, depriving criminal gangs of the funds they use to facilitate crossings as part of a wider crackdown on illegal migration.
