Over 200 police officers unleashed dawn raids at homes across Oxfordshire. Two men and three women, all from the Wantage area, were arrested on suspicion of modern slavery, money laundering, and tax evasion. After searching cars, sheds, and homes, the officers found expensive jewellery, large quantities of cash, and a suspected stolen JCB. Ten people were charged with drug supply offences following a series of county lines warrants executed by specialist crime officers in Enfield, Haringey, Croydon, Essex and Thames Valley. The warrants were the culmination of a 13-month long investigation targeting drug supply and associated violent crime in Norwich, and took place on Tuesday 28 July at residential addresses across London and surrounding counties. During the manhunt, officers found a number of vulnerable people affected by the organised crime network. Safeguarding measures are being implemented. See also

After raiding fifteen sites in Luton, police found eleven Romanian and Hungarian women in their twenties, speaking little or no English, believed to be victims of sexual exploitation. Eight men were arrested and charged with managing and controlling brothels and money laundering. The raids were led by 150 police officers and specialist staff, who also seized substantial amounts of cash. Women are offered contracts to come here to work in a proper job, but ‘unfortunately that is not the case’. Inspector Jim Goldsmith said that there has been a dramatic rise over recent months in off-street sex trade in Luton where numerous brothels have opened. ‘We try to keep these women as safe as we can after rescue, and that was the purpose of these raids - to take them out of that environment, give them the opportunity to exit that life, and get them back to their families.’

The European Commission has said that free ports, the Singapore-style tax-free zones favoured by Boris Johnson, are ‘potentially vulnerable to money-laundering and financing terrorism’ in the European single market. Free ports are ‘the new emerging threat’, said the European justice commissioner, Věra Jourová. ‘This is something we want to focus on more.’ Prime Minister Johnson says he wants ‘about six’ tax-free zones in ports as part of his vision for the UK after Brexit. He has yet to give details on their size and location. EU countries and their dependencies already shelter 80+ free ports, including one on the Isle of Man, a British crown dependency which is neither in the EU nor the UK. The commission’s report warned that the EU has ‘a structural problem’ in preventing the financial system from being used by criminals.