Trading Standards officers from North Lanarkshire Council have seized a haul of suspected illicit cigarettes and tobacco.
The action was part of Operation CeCe Scotland, a joint initiative between Scottish trading standards services and HMRC to tackle the illegal tobacco trade at retail level.
With Boo, Scotland’s consumer protection dog, officers visited seven retail premises following receipt of intelligence that counterfeit and/or illicit duty-evading cigarettes and tobacco were being sold.
In total, 7,480 cigarettes and over 4kg of hand rolling tobacco with a conservative value of £6000 were seized from three premises in Airdrie, Coatbridge and Wishaw during the operation. Some were found ‘hidden in plain sight’ in crisp boxes to avoid detection.
“This is an excellent outcome for our partnership with HMRC, which aims to take illegal cigarettes and tobacco out of circulation to protect the public,” said Councillor Alan Masterton, Convener of NLC’s Environment and Place Committee.
“This illegal trade costs the Treasury £2bn each year and harms legitimate businesses, as well as presenting a serious danger to public health.”
HMRC encourages anyone with information about the illegal sale of tobacco to report it online or call the Fraud Hotline on 0800 788 887.
Trading Standards protective services business manager, Paul Bannister, added: “This successful operation was the result of intelligence work with HMRC, and it highlights our commitment to take action against those who try to sell illegal products in North Lanarkshire.
“We don’t know where the cigarettes and tobacco originated, which means they could contain many harmful substances due to low or no quality control procedures in manufacture, and it is likely duty has not been paid.
We will continue to take a zero tolerance approach to criminal activity within North Lanarkshire to identify and take enforcement action against those responsible.”
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