More arrests on the way over illegal tobacco
The battle against the sale of illegal tobacco has scored another victory following an awareness campaign by the Express & Star.
Complaints regarding the selling of cheap, untaxed cigarettes and counterfeit tobacco to Crimestoppers have doubled, the charity said today.
Earlier this year, our undercover investigators visited dozens of shops and found 25 out of 27 were prepared to sell illegal cigarettes and tobacco to customers.
When samples were sent off for analysis it was found the tobacco contained substances such as rat droppings, poisonous chemicals, dead insects and asbestos.
In February, Tobacco company Japan Tobacco International partnered with Crimestoppers to try and stamp out the trade, which is estimated to cost the UK tax man around £2 billion in unpaid duty.
It saw the Crimestoppers anonymous helpline number publicised as the primary 'call to action' across all of JTI's illegal tobacco campaigns throughout the UK, which in March this year a campaign was run by the Express & Star.
Mark Yexley, media relations manager at Japan Tobacco International, said the campaign has had impressive results.
He said: "The number of tobacco related reports to Crimestoppers doubled during the campaign period, which clearly demonstrates that illegal tobacco continues to be a very real concern for local communities across the West Midlands.
"The calls to Crimestoppers included information on contraband and fake cigarettes and tobacco being smuggled into the UK to be sold in shops, out of people's homes and probably most disturbing of all, to children.
"Details of these crimes have been passed by Crimestoppers to HMRC and West Midlands Trading Standards for further action where we hope to see prosecutions materialise in the very near future."
It is estimated that smoking one cigarette containing illegal tobacco, which is manufactured all over the world in unregulated factories, is as harmful as smoking 10 ordinary filter tips.
Across the country, it is also estimated that 39 to 50 per cent of roll-up tobacco could be counterfeit.
Roger Critchell, Crimestoppers director of operations, has said his aim is to clean the streets of illegal tobbaco.
He said: "As a crime-fighting charity, Crimestoppers has a responsibility to tackle all types of crime, and working alongside JTI UK, we hope to be able to clean the streets of illicit tobacco.
"The link this trade has to serious and organised crime is very real, and with the help of information from the public on those supplying and selling these fake products, our aim is to ensure your community is a safe place to live."
Across the country, almost 3.3bn cigarettes and more than 800 tonnes of illicit hand-rolling tobacco have been seized and 593 criminals involved have been prosecuted during the last two years.
