Criminal gangs could be using barber shops as bases for human trafficking and ... trends now
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Barber shops are one of the fastest growing trades on the high street – but officials fear they are increasingly being used as a front for organised crime.
Security sources have told The Mail on Sunday that gangs are using some businesses to conceal the proceeds of crime, and that many could be a base for human trafficking and slave labour in the same way nail bars and car washes have been used in the past.
The explosion of barber shops in London and other major UK cities has prompted experts to call for an investigation.
Some are being run by Albanian and Kurdish gangs suspected of making money by smuggling tens of thousands of migrants from Calais to Dover on lorries and small boats across the Channel.
Former Metropolitan Police officer Ali Hassan Ali said: 'Right across High Streets we have seen a boom in barbers opening up since the pandemic.
Barber shops are one of the fastest growing trades on the high street – but officials fear they are increasingly being used as a front for organised crime (stock image)
'A lot of these shops have thousands of pounds of equipment but no customers.
'While in some cases the shops will be involved in legitimate business, from my own experience, there is strong reason to believe a large number, particularly those owned by Albanians, Turks and Kurds, have links to organised crime.
'This can be people-smuggling and in some cases drugs.
'We know the people smuggling gangs in Calais have been traditionally operated by
