Police, immigration officers and Trading Standards officers raided 265 premises across England and Wales over three weeks in March 2025 under Operation Machinize, a National Crime Agency-coordinated crackdown on High Street businesses suspected of being fronts for crime gangs.[1] Two cannabis farms were found during the operation, holding a total of 150 plants.[1] The BBC reported that one of those farms was in Leigh, Greater Manchester, where officers seized more than 150 plants.[2] Across Greater Manchester the raids also turned up brown powder believed to be heroin, vials of testosterone, nitrous oxide, Xanax tranquilliser and a machete.[2]

The operation produced 35 arrests; 55 people were questioned over their immigration status and 97 more were safeguarded as potential modern slavery victims.[1] Officers seized more than GBP 40,000 in cash, some 200,000 cigarettes, 7,000 packs of tobacco, over 8,000 illegal vapes and two vehicles, and secured freezing orders on bank accounts totalling more than GBP 1m.[1] Ten shops were shut, and the NCA expected further closures as investigations continued.[1]

In Shrewsbury, West Mercia Police detained two Kurdish asylum seekers at a barber shop on suspicion of money laundering, illicit cigarettes and vapes, immigration offences and drug dealing; both were later released.[2] Det Insp Daniel Fenn said some of the barber shops were claiming income of GBP 100,000 to GBP 150,000 a month without the customers to justify it.[2] The NCA says cash-intensive businesses such as barbershops are used by gangs to mix criminal profits with legitimate takings, and its deputy director Rachael Herbert said the operation found links to drug trafficking and distribution, organised immigration crime, modern slavery, firearms and illicit tobacco and vapes.[1]