By Marit Rødevand

Ask anyone who lives in a city about ‘American-style candy stores’ and they’ll level the same accusation: they’re fronts for money laundering.

Our High Streets have changed a lot over the past decade and one of the primary motivating forces driving that change is financial crime.

It’s what’s behind a lot of the mini-marts, vape shops and barbers that have become ubiquitous in towns and cities across the UK.

So it came as no surprise when, this week, there was a series of targeted raids on businesses like these, with over a 1000 arrests.

Home Office security minister Dan Jarvis said: "Criminals are using these dodgy shops as fronts for serious organised crime, money laundering and illegal working’

But if everyone seems to know what’s going on behind these very literal ‘shop fronts’, then why has the UK been allowed to become a global hub for money laundering and why hasn’t more been done to stop it?

The story of the current situation starts with the long-term decline of the high street. It begins before the pandemic, but the lockdown supercharged it: driving shoppers online and causing big names and small businesses alike to flee from brick and mortar.

The........

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