Illegal tobacco and vapes seized after good work by trading standards officers

Acting on complaints, Wolverhampton Council’s Trading Standards team targeted a number of premises across the city where the goods were believed to be on sale.

In one business, officers found 2,280 illicit cigarettes hidden underneath a floor, 8.1 kilos of banned oral tobacco and snus (a tobacco product placed between the upper lip and gum) and an estimated 550 illicit vapes, with each having a sale price of £10 to £12.

Smaller seizures of vapes were also found in other city premises.

The retail value of the total vapes seized is an estimated £8,260, the value of the cigarettes seized is around £1,745 and the duty evaded on cigarettes and oral tobacco would come to more than £2,900.

The council said that action is set to be taken against the owners of premises where the material was seized while further investigations will be carried out to identify their suppliers.

Once investigations have been completed, the illegal cigarettes and tobacco will be handed over to a recycling scheme to be dealt with in an environmentally friendly way.

Councillor Bhupinder Gakhal, cabinet member for resident services at Wolverhampton Council, said: “Our officers carry out these investigations to help protect the public from dangerous products.

"They also protect our legitimate businesses.

“Illegal cigarettes are unregulated and carry even greater risks to health than regulated ones, as they contain higher levels of nicotine, tar and heavy metals.

“In addition, legal cigarettes are manufactured to meet safety requirements, which reduce the chance that they could set fire to sofas, beds and other combustible materials.

"Illegal cigarettes are not self-extinguishable and have been linked to a number of house fires and deaths.

“Equally, illicit vapes pose an increased danger to health as they do not follow UK regulations. As with all counterfeit products, no money is paid in VAT or customs duty.

“I’d like to congratulate our Trading Standards team for their dedicated work which resulted in such a successful outcome.”

The investigations carried out by officers came under two national Trading Standards initiatives, Operation CeCe and Operation Joseph.

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 19 million illegal cigarettes and 5,103kg of hand rolling tobacco in 2023-24, Operation CeCe (a National Trading Standards initiative in partnership with HMRC) has taken £27.2 million pounds worth of illicit tobacco off the market since the operation launched in 2021 and continues to successfully disrupt this illicit trade.”

Officers from Wolverhampton Council's Trading Standards team have issued some warning signs to look out for when buying cigarettes or tobacco.

It said that telltale signs of illegal tobacco include unusual taste, cheap price, unusual packaging, spelling mistakes or incorrect logos.

They may also have health warnings that may not be printed in English, might not display a picture, might not be printed on a white background and may have different sized lettering to usual.

Anyone who thinks they may have been sold illegal goods or suspect someone is selling them, can email trading.standards@wolverhampton.gov.uk