Police seize fake cigarettes in raids
A haul of thousands of illegal cigarettes and more than 2kg of illicit tobacco have been seized from shops and homes across Dudley.
Trading standards officers also uncovered counterfeit or illegal alcohol and DVDs during two days of raids in Dudley, Brierley Hill, Kingswinford and Stourbridge.
The team, with three sniffer dogs, visited 11 premises that were suspected of selling or hoarding unlawful tobacco.
The haul included counterfeit and non-duty paid tobacco products, which cannot be legally sold in the UK. More than 6,100 illegal cigarettes were among the items seized yesterday and on Wednesday.
The dogs sniffed out packets that may have been impossible to find without their specialist sense of smell, which is tens of thousands of times more sensitive to odours than humans. One of the dogs found a stash of tobacco hidden in the base compartment of a kitchen cupboard.
Ozzie, a three-year old sniffer dog used by Dudley Council's Trading Standards team, has helped to find the haul.
Councillor Stuart Turner, cabinet member for health and wellbeing, said: "This is an excellent result. Sniffer dogs are trained to find the smallest amount of tobacco products, which is really important, because these products are unregulated and could be far more harmful to people's health than tobacco or cigarettes alone.
"We hope that we are sending a strong message to people who deal in counterfeit tobacco that we are watching you."
