Bags of illegal tobacco found, hidden compartments uncovered and dodgy Walsall traders sniffed out in £24k crackdown
Around £24,000 worth of illegal cigarettes, tobacco and disposable vapes were seized from shops across Walsall this week as part of a police and trading standards operation.
Officers from Walsall Council's trading standards team, with assistance from West Midlands Police, checked in on six shops in the borough last Friday as part of an operation to tackle the sale of illegal tobacco.
Trained sniffer dogs Billy and Ziggy were also on hand to assist with the operation.
Illegal goods were found in four of them with Trading officers seizing approximately 22,000 cigarettes, 3kg of illegal hand rolling tobacco, and 400 illegal disposable vapes in total.
Ziggy, who has been trained to detect tobacco and vape products, helped unearth bags of them hidden amongst rubbish at the rear of one of the shops.
In one store, a purpose-built wall concealment was found high up in the storeroom. Illegal goods were also found behind shop counters, on storeroom floors and in bins.
Councillor Garry Perry, leader of Walsall Council, said: “We carry operations like this out frequently, and traders need to realise we are not going to allow them to sell illegal goods in our borough.
"I want to thank the trading standards team, West Midlands Police and of course Billy and Ziggy for their hard work to get these products off our streets.
"Many of these dodgy traders are prepared to sell to children, which is unacceptable and dangerous. We have adopted a strong approach to these matters and will use every enforcement technique at our disposal to disrupt this type of activity and keep our residents safe.
“This work is also vital in delivering our Tobacco Control Plan, a key aspect of which focuses on tackling the trade of illicit tobacco and vaping products.”
Lord Michael Bichard, chair of National Trading Standards, said: “The trade in illegal tobacco harms local communities and affects honest businesses operating within the law. Having removed 27 million illegal cigarettes, 7,500kg of hand rolling tobacco and almost 175kg of shisha products from sale, the National Trading Standards initiative in partnership with HMRC continues to successfully disrupt this illicit trade.”
