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Tackling illicit activity in high street shops

Illicit activity in high street shops can involve the sale of counterfeit goods, illegal tobacco and vapes, and other forms of retail crime. People engaged in such activity are sometimes linked to organised crime groups.

Counterfeit goods, money laundering and other criminal activities in high street shops

Organised crime groups are involved in the sale of counterfeit goods and are known to launder money through high street shops.

In April 2026, the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) published Hidden in Plain Sight: Tackling Crime on the UK’s High Streets. The report found that counterfeiting represents a “low-risk, high-profit activity” for organised crime groups. It found evidence of organised crime groups operating in large “international criminal networks with extensive shadow supply chains, warehousing and logistics”.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) has estimated that at least £1 billion of criminal cash is laundered through high street stores annually, particularly “Cash-intensive businesses such as barbershops, vape shops, nail bars, American-themed sweet shops and car washes”. The NCA explains that:

Crime gangs use them to enter cash into the financial system, mixing legitimate funds with criminal profits to hinder subsequent law enforcement investigations. They are known to buy such businesses using the proceeds of crime, which provides them with a legitimate income and opportunities for money laundering.

Revenue from the trade in illicit goods can also help fund other criminal activities. The National Trading Standards Chair, Lord Michael Bichard, says the market for illicit tobacco and vape products is:

[…] largely powered by organised crime, and the products represent an important money-spinner that help fund organised crime groups’ other illegal schemes, such as human trafficking and modern slavery.

The CTSI report also warns that organised crime groups involved in the sale of counterfeit goods are also often linked to “other insidious criminal activities - including child sexual exploitation, modern slavery, human trafficking, and drug and weapons supply.”

The CTSI gave evidence to the Home Affairs Committee on 16 June 2026 about criminality on the high streets as part of its inquiry into the impact of serious and organised crime on local neighbourhoods.

Scale of the problem

Sale of counterfeit and illicit goods on high streets

By its nature, illicit activity can only be recorded when it is discovered. Official statistics on illicit trading of goods are not routinely published. However, various agencies have published findings from surveys and published information from enforcement operations, which help paint a picture of the scale of the problem. For example:

• In March 2025, the National Trading Standards Chair, Lord Michael Bichard stated that “Trading Standards seized more than a million illegal vapes, 19 million counterfeit cigarettes and 5,103kg of illicit hand rolling tobacco last year.”
• In its bulletin for April 2024 to March 2025, HMRC stated that its work with Trading Standards to disrupt the illicit tobacco trade at retail level resulted in the seizure of over 23.5 million illicit cigarettes and over 7,000 kilos of illicit hand-rolling tobacco.
• The CTSI 2025 surveyon the experiences of Trading Standards professionals found that convenience stores, vape shops, fast-food takeaways and “American candy” stores were the shops most linked to illicit activity.
• The Intellectual Property Office’s annual survey of Trading Standards officers’ work on IP crime (for the period April 2024 to March 2025), found that whilst “Clothing and tobacco products remain at the top of the list for IP crime investigations” there has been a “notable increase in cases involving counterfeit vape products.” It said other areas of focus included “perfume, footwear, electricals and watches/jewellery, with an increase in the number of investigations relating to toys and perfume.”

Involvement of serious and organised crime groups

The Intellectual Property Office’s annual survey of Trading Standards officers 2024 to 2025 found links between the sale of counterfeit and illegal goods and other serious and organised crime:

Trading Standards Officers observed strong connections between counterfeit goods and various other criminal activities, with organised crime groups being the most common link, followed by money laundering, modern day slavery, drug dealing and benefit fraud.

The CTSI’s 2025 survey on the experiences of Trading Standards professionals, found that:

• 96% of Trading Standards professionals said that they had encountered serious organised crime or organised crime groups within their duties
• 97% were aware of suspected organised crime groups operating out of retail premises on their local high streets
• 99% have seen an increase in the number of cash intensive businesses opening on their local high streets since 2020

The CTSI report found that “dodgy shops” were present in towns and villages across the UK – not just in urbanised centres. Part 3 of the report includes a “hot spot” map of where there appears to be high prevalence of high street shops linked to organised crime.

Impact of illicit activity

The CTSI thinks that the scale of organised criminal activities – including (but not limited to) counterfeiting – is underestimated, both in terms of the potential value to organised crime groups and the danger for consumers. It says that:

Counterfeit activity now spans both physical retail premises and an expanding digital landscape, across social media, websites and online marketplaces, making enforcement more complex and enabling criminals to target consumers at unprecedented scale.

This evolving threat not only undermines innovation, jobs, and brand integrity, but also increases the risk of harmful products entering local communities, including unsafe medicines, cosmetics, electrical goods, and toys.

In the UK, the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 (GPSR) provide the basis for ensuring the safety of consumer goods. The GPSR place obligations on producers and distributors relating to the sale of safe products. There are several sectors (for example, toys, pyrotechnics, lifts) where there are additional and more specific essential safety requirements.

The CTSI has warned that counterfeit products such as toys or electronics “may not meet UK safety regulations and therefore put consumers at real risk of harm and injury”. It says that “Such products may contain choking hazards that could prove fatal for children, or faulty/unsafe electronics that pose a fire hazard”.

In written evidence to the Home Affairs Committee, The Anti-Slavery Collective estimated that counterfeit goods cost £2.55 million in forgone tax revenue. Giving oral evidence to the committee, Sarah Woodcock, CEO, highlighted how the supply chains of counterfeit goods involved forced labour and exploitation at each stage:

We have seen evidence of forced labour and exploitation from start to end of counterfeit supply chains. That includes, obviously, the manufacturing and production zones, mainly in China, Hong Kong, Turkey, south-east Asia, as you would expect, but where counterfeit supply chains differ from ordinary fashion supply chains is that we are still seeing evidence of forced labour and exploitation as you move down the supply chain. That is in distribution, assembly and particularly sales.

More information about the Home Affairs Committee’s inquiry into serious and organised crime in local neighbours is available from the inquiry webpage.

Enforcement action

In certain consumer protection areas – such as counterfeit goods, illicit tobacco and vapes, and unsafe products – local authority Trading Standards is the lead enforcement agency. However, given the frequent links to serious criminality, taking action against high street shops can often require coordination across policing and other enforcement agencies.

Tobacco and vapes

In April 2023, the government announced the creation of a specialised “illicit vapes enforcement squad” in England, to be led by Trading Standards. In December 2023, the Welsh Government announced it would also provide funding to Trading Standards Wales to help tackle illegal vapes.

In March 2025, the Department of Health and Social Care announced a £10 million funding boost for Trading Standards to tackle illicit and underage sales of tobacco and vapes.

In addition, the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 includes provisions which give Trading Standards new powers designed to help tackle illicit trading, including:

• a prohibition on the sale of vaping and nicotine products to anyone under the age of 18 in England and Wales
• the introduction of regulations to restrict the displays of tobacco and vapes in store
• the introduction of a licensing regime in England, Wales and Northern Ireland for retailers wanting to sell tobacco, nicotine or vaping products (this is expected to come into force in 2027 – a mandatory registration system for businesses selling tobacco and nicotine vapes already operates in Scotland)

New enforcement powers will include on-the-spot fines in England and Wales for retailers found to be breaking age-restricted sales laws. Officers will also be empowered to close shops operating illegally.

In addition to the provisions in the 2026 act, it is now illegal for businesses in England to sell disposable vapes (also known as single-use vapes). The ban came into force on 1 June 2025.

Operation Machinize

Operation Machinize is a joint initiative between the National Crime Agency, police forces, Regional Organised Crime Units, HMRC, Trading Standards and Home Office Immigration Enforcement. The operation carried out two coordinated actions in March to April 2025 and October 2025 across England and Wales. The operations led to shop closures and arrests, and seizures of cash, cigarettes, illegal vapes and vehicles.

Local policing operations

Clear, Hold, Build is an operational framework used by every police force in England and Wales. It provides a model for co-ordinating the response from the police and other partner agencies to serious and organised crime at the local level, including on high streets.

Police forces also lead enforcement operations at the local level. For example, Greater Manchester Police’s Operation Vulcan, which began in 2022, has led to hundreds of shops being closed and seizures of large quantities of illicit and counterfeit goods. 

Landlords

Wendy Martin, Director, National Trading Standards told the Business and Trade Committee in November 2025 that wider pressures on high streets have made landlords more willing to turn a blind eye to tenants breaking the law. She said:

Anecdotally, with the mix of lots more online shopping for a lot of products over the last period plus the impact of the cost of living, the suggestion is that even legitimate or semi-legitimate landlords, if you can call them that, will ask fewer questions because they need income.

The CTSI report Hidden in Plain Sight suggests landlords should take greater action against criminal tenants, to resolve issues more quickly. It recommends that “law-abiding landlords” should be better supported in evicting criminal tenants, while complicit landlords should be fined for knowingly allowing their premises to be used for illegal purposes.

Government efforts to increase enforcement action against “dodgy shops”

Closure orders

Local authorities and police forces in England and Wales can apply to the courts for a closure order on retail premises, under chapter 3, part 4 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014. When granted, the premises is closed for a maximum of three months, with an option to extend to six months.

Section 2.6 of the Library briefing Responding to anti-social behaviour in England and Wales provides more information on closure orders.

On 10 June 2026, the government announced its intention to extend the maximum period of a closure order to up to 12 months. The aim is to give investigators more time to gather evidence and pursue prosecutions against people involved in illegal activity. The government can extend the maximum length of a closure order through secondary legislation, using new powers under section 3 of the Crime and Policing Act 2026.

On 22 June 2026, the Home Office published a consultation, seeking views on increasing:

• the maximum duration of closure orders
• the maximum period for which a closure order can be extended
• the maximum overall duration of an extended order

The consultation is due to close on 31 July 2026.

In its Hidden in Plain Sight report, the CTSI raised concerns of cases where a premises is shut down through a closure order and the same individuals behind the business establish another shop nearby (sometimes even next door to the closed premises). They have also raised concerns over the “significant challenges” with closure orders “related to their duration, practical application, and the fact that they are not available to all Local Authorities” (County Councils, where Trading Standards sometimes sit, cannot apply directly for closure orders). It makes other recommendations in the report for strengthening closure powers.

Increasing action against shops linked to organised crime

On 19 May 2026, the Home Office announced it had provided additional funding to the NCA and police forces to tackle “dodgy shops”. It announced that it would:

• provide £20 million for an “enhanced law enforcement response”, including establishing “a new multi-agency co-ordination cell” based in the NCA
• recruit 75 new police officers across theNCA, Greater Manchester Police, West Midlands Police, Kent Police and Essex Police, to “build intelligence at a national level and increase the number of dedicated officers tackling organised crime on the ground”
• provide £6 million for Trading Standards to “bolster the response to sham businesses in at-risk local authorities”

In addition, it says a new “High Street Organised Crime Unit has been established to bring together government departments, policing partners, and Trading Standards”. The government says the unit will build on the work of Operation Machinize.

Product safety reforms

The Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025 establishes a new legal framework for product safety in the UK. An accompanying code of conduct, published on 22 July 2025, clarifies how the new powers granted to the government under the act will be exercised. 

The legislation is expected to enhance Trading Standards’ enforcement powers to crack down on potentially dangerous products being sold in shops on the high street and via online marketplaces (such as Amazon and eBay). Further information on how the act will better protect consumers is provided by the Office for Product Safety and Standards. Thefull impact of the act will only become apparent once secondary legislation is drafted.

Further reading

Home Office, Consultation: Increasing the duration of closure orders under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, 22 June 2026

Home Affairs Committee, Oral evidence: The impact of serious and organised crime on local neighbourhoods, HC 36, 16 June 2026

Home Office, New laws to shutdown dodgy high street shops in crime crackdown, 10 June 2026

National Trading Standards, Annual report 2025-26, 28 May 2026

Home Office, National Crime Agency and The Rt Hon Shabana Mahmood MP, New high street unit set up in nationwide blitz on dodgy shops, 19 May 2026

Chartered Trading Standards Institute, Hidden in Plain Sight: Tackling Crime on the UK’s High Streets, 30 April 2026

Home Affairs Committee, Oral evidence: The impact of serious and organised crime on local neighbourhoods HC1721, 20 April 2026

National Crime Agency, National Strategic Assessment of Serious and Organised Crime 2026: SOC Finance, 17 March 2026

Business and Trade Committee, Small business strategy: Fifteenth Report of Session 2024–26, 11 February 2026

House of Commons Library, Town and city centre safety, 29 January 2026

Business and Trade Committee, Oral evidence: Small business strategy, HC 1057, Tuesday 25 November 2025

Department for Business & Trade, Backing your business: our plan for small and medium sized businesses, 31 July 2025

Hansard, Westminster Hall debate: High Street Businesses, 26 February 2025