MORE than seven million illegal cigarettes and 478kg of hand rolling tobacco have been seized across the region by local Trading Standards teams from the Central England Trading Standards Authorities (CEnTSA).
The cigarettes and tobacco were seized in the last financial year (2017/2018), with a potential loss to the taxpayer of nearly £2million.
The total retail value of the illegal goods is estimated to be in excess of £3million.
The amount of illegal product seized has increased year on year with the amount of illegal cigarettes seized last year almost 30 per cent higher than a record seizure figure the previous year.
In March this year more than 50,000 illegal cigarettes and almost 300 packets of hand-rolling tobacco were netted by Worcestershire County Council’s Trading Standards officers, accompanied by specialist detection dogs from Wagtail UK, from two retail premises in Evesham and Redditch.
They had a street value of over £20,000.
Cabinet Member for Communities, Councillor Lucy Hodgson, said: “Far from being a victimless crime, illegal tobacco trade creates a cheap source for children and young people.
“While all tobacco is harmful, the illegal tobacco market, and in particular the availability of cheap cigarettes, undermines government health policies aimed at reducing the cost to the NHS of treating diseases caused by smoking.
The loss to the taxpayer means less money being spent on local communities, schools and the NHS.”
Perpetrators are getting more inventive with hiding places in shops, which can include sophisticated hiding places using electronic magnets controlled by switches, hydraulic compartments in floors, a false back to a fridge, as well as cavity wall compartments.
All offending businesses are subject to criminal investigation.
Anyone being offered cheap tobacco or any other types of illicit goods should report it to Trading Standards by calling the CEnTSA’s confidential fakes hotline on 0300 3032636.
