Police have arrested 17 people across London, Essex, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk in dawn raids targeting a suspected organised crime group. More than 800 officers participated in the operation, which involved searches of 24 properties. The arrests, conducted by the Metropolitan Police alongside His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), are linked to suspicions of serious and organised crime, money laundering, financial offences, and conspiracy to commit GBH. One officer was stabbed in the leg during a warrant execution in Cockfosters, Barnet, sustaining non-life-changing injuries.
The arrests include 15 men aged between 26 and 65, and two women aged 31 and 41. The FCA has disrupted seven businesses and is actively pursuing another 30. A 56-year-old man was also arrested on suspicion of GBH relating to the stabbing. The Metropolitan Police stated that the arrests “mark a significant point” in the investigation.
The investigation encompasses allegations of participating in organised crime, money laundering, cheating the public revenue, false accounting, and conspiracy to commit GBH. Searches are ongoing at several properties, and a police presence is expected to remain for several days.
Our reading is that this operation represents a significant escalation in efforts to tackle organised crime in the specified regions of England. The large number of officers involved and the breadth of the investigation, covering multiple financial and violent crimes, suggests a potentially complex and well-established criminal network is being targeted. The injury to an officer, while not life-changing, underscores the risks inherent in such operations and the potential for resistance from those being investigated.
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