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Newcastle Trading Standards seize illegal tobacco and cigarettes worth £10,000 (6 February 2017)

Date: 06/02/2017
Duncan Lewis, Legal News Solicitors, Newcastle Trading Standards seize illegal tobacco and cigarettes worth £10,000

Newcastle City Council’s Trading Standards Team have raided a shop in Byker, after receiving a tip-off from a member of the public that illegal cigarettes were being sold from the premises.

Trading Standards officers found 16,420 cigarettes, allegedly from Easter Europe with a street value of £5,000 and legal value of £10,000, hidden in a laptop case in the boot of a car parked outside the shop.

Trading Standards said they were investigating and the dealer could be prosecuted.

Newcastle City Council Cabinet Member for Regulatory Services, Councillor Nick Kemp, said:

“Here we have another large seizure – the second in as many weeks. All tobacco is harmful and should be avoided, but illegal tobacco also harms legitimate businesses.

“I’d like to thank the vigilant person who contacted us to tell us about their suspicions. The shop owner clearly went to a lot of bother to hide the tobacco, but our officers know all of the places to look. These cigarettes are now destined to go up in smoke – not in the usual way, but on a fire.”


Trading Standards Manager David Ellerington added:

“Bootleg cigarettes are a multi-billion pound industry that spans the world. Last week we seized cigarettes from China – these ones came in from Eastern Europe. They all harm the smoker, defraud the Exchequer and harm legitimate businesses. We won’t stop doing these visits until people get the message that crime doesn’t pay – they may think they are getting away with it, but we will catch them out in the end.”

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