Four retail premises were raided earlier this week, and were discovered to have £9,600 worth of illicit cigarettes and vapes.
The shops around the Swinton and Eccles area were raided by Trading Standards officers from Salford City Council, with the operation a part of two national initiatives, Operation CeCe and Operation Joseph.
The objection of the initiative is to tackle the sale of illicit tobacco and illegal vapes respectively.
The work of the premises officers alongside tobacco and vape detection dogs Skye, Lilly and Louis discovered a total of 9,580 cigarettes, 3.55kg hand rolling tobacco and 667 disposable vapes.
The products were found by officers concealed in an attmept to avoid detection.
It was believed that the stores have been a target of Salford City Council and have been under surveillance for a number of months.
Some of the goods were suspected of being counterfeit and did not have the correct health warning with the disposable vapes being found to contain up to five times the legal limit of e-liquid.
The raid found one store to have a total of 4820 cigarettes and 1.95kg of hand rolling tobacco and was concealed in a purpose-built hiding space in the floor.
Following the discovery of illicit cigarettes and vapes, Councillor Barbara Bentham, the lead member for environment and community safety, said: “The sale of such products is illegal and in Salford we will do all that we can to stamp it out.
“The packets carry no health warnings and taxes are not paid on it, which deprives our communities of funds for vital public services such as the NHS and social care.
“Purchasing products like these only profit criminals, and we must all play our part to stem the spread of this commerce to protect our communities.”
The main focus of the crackdown is to eliminate the sale of illegal products that may end up in the hands of young people and children, in the hope of preventing further health threats.
As Cllr Bentham added: “The people making money out of this do not care who they sell to. Children and young smokers are often targeted by people who sell illegal cigarettes, making it easier for them to get hooked on smoking.
“The availability of illegal cigarettes makes it harder for people to quit and remain smoke free.”
This continues to be a greater issue across Salford as almost 80,000 illegal disposable vapes were seized in Salford in the space of a year.
Following the recent Freedom of Information request, Salford Council revealed that between January 2023 and February 2024; 79,449 disposable vapes, 35,275 bottles of e-liquid and 1 e-cigarette, all illegal, had been seized.
There have been 74 cases where a business was found to be stocking, or in possession of, illegal vaping products which were subsequently seized.
Hopefully operations such as this can start to have a greater affect and crackdown on the selling of illicit products in the city.
Information on anyone selling illegal goods can be reported, anonymously, via Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 0808 223 1133 or online at https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/get-more-help/report-to-trading-standards/
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