Organised crime crackdown: British police arrest 17

British police targeting organised crime said they had arrested 17 people on suspicion of offences ranging from money laundering to false accounting and tax evasion, as part of a major operation involving 800 officers and the country’s financial regulator.

Following a months-long investigation, the Financial Conduct Authority is taking action against seven firms and pursuing 30 others, police said in a statement on Tuesday. Properties in London, south-east England and eastern England were raided in the early hours of Tuesday, and police said those arrested were suspected of high-level involvement in serious and organised crime.

The FCA said the joint action was key to disrupting groups “that abuse the financial system to launder dirty money.”