Croydon Council trading standards team and HM Revenue and Customs have used specialist sniffer dogs to track down and seize illegal tobacco worth more than £175,000.
Barking: the council’s trading standards teams called in the dogs for their tobacco searches
Officers recovered 270,600 illegal cigarettes and 14.8km of hand-rolling tobacco from a storage facility last month.
Since the end of September, Croydon’s trading standards and HMR&C have seized more than 660,000 cigarettes and 375kg of hand-rolling tobacco, together reckoned to be worth £500,000.
The crackdown is part of Operation CeCe, a national campaign. The investigations are continuing.
Anyone who is prosecuted and convicted of being involved in selling or supplying illegal tobacco can face penalties including up to 10 years in prison and an unlimited fine.
If you have information about the sale of illegal tobacco in Croydon please report it via the Citizens Advice Consumer Advice line on 0808 223 1133.
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