Surprise charity shop haul
Cigarettes, tobacco and vapes totalling around £50,000 have been seized during raids last week, delivering Telford & Wrekin Council’s largest ever haul from a single premise.
The searches, targeted at two convenience stores and a charity shop, were carried out by the council with support from West Mercia Police and dog handler Stuart Phillips’s detection dogs Cooper, a Labrador and spaniel Griff.
Councillor Richard Overton, (Lab) Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Highways, Housing & Enforcement said: “This is not a victimless crime. As well as the potential harm to health, the sale of cheap, fake and illegal goods undercuts law-abiding businesses.”
Almost £6,000 worth of goods were sniffed out from a Donnington convenience store – 56 packs of hand rolling tobacco and 272 packets of cigarettes from a hide concealed behind a wall.
Evidence including an empty hide away as well as empty boxes and wrappers were found in Dawley but no tobacco. However, a seizure of oversized vapes was found concealed beneath a cabinet valued at around £250.
The charity shop in Oakengates revealed large cardboard boxes with capacity to hold 10,000 cigarettes alongside several suitcases, boxes and bags filled with illicit and counterfeit cigarettes and tobacco. Almost 650 packets of rolling tobacco were found with 1,727 packets of cigarettes – at a value of £47,177.
Councillor Overton added: “This is a new low, using a charity shop shows there are no limits as to how far these people will go. Illegal tobacco trade is a direct gateway to other serious crime, and it will not be tolerated.
“The unscrupulous traders who sell these products at pocket money prices do so without any regard for people’s health and safety and particularly young people who we know are more likely to buy them which can lead to addiction.
“We are pleased at the success of this operation and by taking illegal goods off the streets, we are protecting the public but also disrupting a wider network of criminal activity.”
Police Constable Sharon Major, West Mercia Police, said: “By following a problem-solving approach and working together, partner agencies can make well planned visits to high-risk premises.
“These joint visits have been found to be more powerful than inspections by a single agency as the full extent of non-compliance can be addressed during a single intervention. Not only do the agencies conduct joint visits to target enforcement and compliance activities, but they also combine and analyse intelligence and compliance data which helps identify businesses which are non-compliant in multiple areas.
“On this occasion locating and seizing such high amounts of illegal and illicit tobacco hopefully makes a dent into the organised crime that surrounds these activities. It just goes to show how well multi-agency work works.”
If you think someone in Telford and Wrekin is selling fake or illegal goods, please call the confidential consumer helpline on 0808 223 1133.
