A BURNLEY business has been raided as part of a Customs and Excise nationwide sting on multi-million pound alleged VAT fraud.

In one of the largest VAT fraud operations of its kind, 350 Customs Law Enforcement officers raided over 70 properties across the UK and Spain yesterday in connection with a major VAT missing trader fraud estimated at £120 million.

Thirty nine people were arrested across the country and £1m in cash and money from bank accounts was seized.

Customs officers raided the un-named Burnley business premises and although no arrests were made business records were taken away for examination.

Operation 'Euripus' was executed with the assistance of police from Staffordshire and other police forces throughout the country.

Swoops were made by Customs investigators at a total of 40 business premises and thirty-one residential premises across the country.

Searches were also carried out in Barcelona and Malaga in Spain and also in Majorca and Tenerife.

Thirty-three men and six women were arrested and are believed to be part of a sophisticated network of companies that 'carousel' large quantities of mobile phones.

It is believed that the fraud involved buying mobile phones from the continent VAT free and supplying them to businesses in the UK. The 'carousel' occurs when companies then sell the phones back to the Continent, without payment of VAT to the UK Government and without the phones ever being used by a consumer.

Several large amounts of cash were also seized during the searches and at one of the business addresses a tonne of cannabis was seized.

Economic Secretary to the Treasury and Customs Minister, John Healey said: "VAT missing trader fraud is not a victimless crime, it costs around £2.5 billion a year enabling criminals to fund lavish lifestyles - money that could pay for an extra 100,000 nurses."