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Staffordshire Trading Standards officers seize illegal cigarettes and hand rolling tobacco (10 April 2017)

Date: 10/04/2017
Duncan Lewis, Legal News Solicitors, Staffordshire Trading Standards officers seize illegal cigarettes and hand rolling tobacco

Staffordshire County Council Trading Standards officers have seized large quantities of illegal cigarettes and hand rolling tobacco in raids on a shop and two residential properties.

Assisted by a sniffer dog, Trading Standards officers targeted the premises as part of an intelligence-led operation to tackle illicit tobacco sales.

In total, officers found approximately 9,880 cigarettes believed to be fake or illegal – and 12.85kg of illegal hand rolling tobacco.

The raid is the latest in a series of county-wide visits by the Trading Standards team, who were supported by Staffordshire Police.

The team is now considering further enforcement action.

The cigarettes uncovered are thought to have been illegally imported and previously supplied at the shop – cartons of Mayfair cigarettes were also found, which are thought to be counterfeit.

Trading Standards manager Tony Shore said:

“We responded to intelligence and successfully disrupted the supply of potentially dangerous tobacco and cigarettes in Stafford. This is part of our ongoing operation to tackle the sale of illicit and counterfeit tobacco in Staffordshire.

“Illicit cigarettes can be especially dangerous as they do not extinguish if left, which legitimate ones do.

“Counterfeit sales also damage businesses and can fund criminal gangs. We are always grateful to people who report suspected sales of illicit tobacco – the information they give really can make a difference.”


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Duncan Lewis Criminal Lawyers can advise at any stage of a public protection offence, including charges involving selling counterfeit goods, selling illicit alcohol or tobacco products, weights and measures issues, mislabelling offences, food hygiene breaches, selling restricted items to minors, breaches of health and safety regulations – and selling or offering for sale produce which fails to meet minimum quality standards.

There are Duncan Lewis offices nationwide and in most major cities – and Duncan Lewis can advise on police raids and premises inspections by Trading Standards or local authority fraud teams.

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