Illegal tobacco worth £14k seized from shops

Illegal tobacco worth £14,000 has been seized during a series of raids in Stoke-on-Trent.

The city council's trading standards team and Staffordshire Police searched five stores – three in Longton and two in Stoke – which had all previously sold illegal tobacco.

Seizures were made at two of the properties, Stoke-on-Trent City Council said, while police also recovered a car with no tax or insurance.

Insp Rebecca Price, of Staffordshire Police, said officers would continue to work with partners to target the supply of illegal tobacco in the city.

"Retailers who do not comply with the law are putting local people at risk and such criminality will not be tolerated," she added.

The raids on 19 March formed part of Operation CeCe – a national initiative headed by HMRC and Trading Standards to tackle illegal tobacco.

Since its launch in January 2021, 69 million illegal cigarettes, 19,750kg of hand-rolled tobacco and almost 175kg of shisha products have been removed from sale across the UK.

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