November 24, 2023 - 485 views
Three raids were carried out at premises in Conwy County yesterday targeting sellers of illicit tobacco and illegal vapes.
Following a number of complaints, officers from Conwy Trading Standards, supported by officers from Operation Cece, Wagtail UK and Immigration Enforcement, have visited and inspected three premises, and seized a quantity of illicit products.
Items were seized from all three premises. This included over 400 illegal disposable vapes with tank sizes in excess of the legal limit, some giving up to 10,000 puffs instead of the allowed 600 puffs. Almost 3000 illicit cigarettes and 1.5kgs hand rolling tobacco.
The seized items represent a clear health risk to the general public, because it’s not clear what they actually contain. The sale of these items also put other businesses who sell legitimate products at risk, because they lose business to these unscrupulous shops.
Trading Standards Wales said: “Smoking kills over 5000 people in Wales every year and half of all long term smokers will die as a direct consequence of their habit. Illegal tobacco is cigarettes or rolling tobacco that has been smuggled and where no duty has been paid.
“This means it can be sold for less than half the price of legitimate tobacco in the informal economy creating a significant problem in our communities.” It makes it much easier for children to access tobacco and vapes and acquire a lifelong addiction and it makes it much harder for existing smokers to quit.”
“The results of these raids demonstrate how effective joint operations can be. “Illegal tobacco is distributed and supplied through organised criminal networks - this is often linked to other criminal activity and brings crime into our local communities.”
