Major VAT fraud operation targeted in international dawn raids

In the early hours of this morning HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) executed eight search warrants and arrested two people from addresses in Glasgow, in an operation targeting multi million pound VAT fraud. The arrests are linked to suspected 'Missing Trader' fraud, a sophisticated organised criminal attack on the EU VAT system involving large scale, contrived and complex trading activity across and beyond the EU.

The international operation saw over 300 HMRC criminal investigators deployed across four countries including France, Spain, Germany and the UK. In the UK a total of 50 search warrants were executed at business and domestic addresses in London, Glasgow, the Midlands, Manchester, Dover, Bristol and South Wales. A total of 13 people were arrested in the operation.