Shropshire Star

Five from Shropshire held in £4 million tax laundering operation raids

Five people from Shropshire have been arrested in connection with an elaborate £4 million tax laundering operation.

Published

Three men and two women were held as part of an investigation centred in Shropshire but involving the whole of the West Midlands.

Officers from HM Revenue and Customs were supported by West Mercia Police in the operation along with Border Force, which is the law enforcement command within the Home Office.

They searched six premises in Telford and Wolverhampton in a series of raids.

A total of four men and two women were arrested in the operation.

Three of the men, aged 41, 42 and 46, and two women, aged 37 and 40, were from the Telford area.

Another man, aged 54, was from the Wolverhampton area.

The jointly organised raids happened last week but were only made public by the forces today.

Four arrests were made on Thursday in Telford, West Mercia Police revealed.

Two were also arrested on Saturday at Birmingham Airport, after being met from the plane as they re-entered the UK.

During the operation, four home addresses, five vehicles and two business premises were searched.

Property including computers, mobile phones, business records and several vehicles were seized by police.

Richard Wentel, assistant director of criminal investigation at HMRC, said the arrests were the result of months of planning and investigations from detectives working jointly.

He said: "This is an investigation into suspected tax fraud on an industrial scale.

"It is attacking the PAYE system and associated money laundering.

"A self-styled financial adviser and five others have been arrested in connection with the investigation.

"We believe it involves the theft of PAYE payments collected from the employees of a number of companies in the West Midlands and Shropshire.

"Tax fraud is not a victimless crime and every year costs millions of pounds in lost revenue that should be funding public services.

"We are committed to working with our partner agencies in the UK and abroad to target those who try to rip-off taxpayers in the UK".

All six people arrested were bailed until November.

Anyone with further information about the investigation are asked to contact HMRC through the Tax Evasion hotline on 0800 788 887.

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