Police raid Post Office as part of £3m money-laundering op
A SUB-POST office was raided by police as part of a £3million county-wide money-laundering operation, the Examiner can reveal.
Salendine Nook Post Office in New Hey Road, Salendine Nook, shut on October 10 for what the Post Office later described as “operational” reasons.
But now police have revealed that the post office was linked to a series of raids in West and South Yorkshire.
Two addresses in Queen’s Road and Gibbet Street, Halifax, were also raided along with another in Sheffield.
In a statement, West Yorkshire Police said: “Officers have executed warrants across Yorkshire as part of an investigation into money laundering.
“On October 10 West Yorkshire Police executed warrants at four addresses in relation to their enquiries, two in Halifax, one in Huddersfield and one in Sheffield.
“Officers have recovered just over £3 million worth of assets including cash and jewellery from the addresses.”
The force spokesman said four people, a woman aged 47, and three men aged 45, 25 and 23 were arrested on suspicion of money laundering offences.
They were released from police custody pending further investigation.
An Examiner reader said: “Police were there on the 10th for quite a while. “I thought it was a robbery, surely I wasn’t the only person to see them?” The Post Office declined to comment in view of the ongoing police investigation. However, on Monday a Post Office spokesman said the branch had closed due to “operational reasons.” Previously, postmaster Mohammed Khan issued a statement saying how much he appreciated the support of his customers.
He said he couldn’t give any details about why the post office was closed but said he planned to re-open soon.
He added: “Please be assured I will be in touch as soon as I have an opening date. I am working as hard as possible to open this branch as soon as I can.”
Mr Khan did not respond to requests for a comment regarding the raid.
The Post Office earlier apologised to customers for the inconvenience caused by the closure and said they were working hard