Nine men between the ages of 36 and 63 have today been arrested on suspicion of money laundering, fraud and organised immigration crime offences following early morning raids on twelve addresses across the region
£50k cash seized and £180k worth of assets (high value jewellery and watches) have also been seized by officers.
The arrests followed an investigation into individuals suspected of being involved in high level money laundering offences spanning at least three years
The group are suspected to have profited from organised immigration crime in Manchester by producing fake identities and businesses in an attempt to money launder their criminal profits.
Detective Superintendent Andy Buckthorpe who leads our Economic Crime Unit, said: “As a unit we have worked extremely hard to get to a point where we can execute these warrants.
“We remain robust in our approach to tackling money laundering, and the action today is part of longstanding approach to ensuring that we are tackling economic crime head on using all resources available to us.
“Today’s action will definitely cause disruption among criminal networks within Greater Manchester as they wake up and hear this news, and hopefully this action today will be reassuring to those members of the public who are rightly concerned by money laundering in our communities.
“As a unit, our focus will always remain on dismantling organised criminal finances and we will work with this same momentum, seizing cash and assets from those who wish to harm our communities and we are asking the public to remain vigilant and if you see, or suspect something is wrong, tell us, and we can do something about it.”
