HOW THE LONG PAW OF THE LAW IS TAKING FAKE FAGS OFF THE STREETS
Cooper is trained to target tobacco
A SPECIALLY-TRAINED search dog has helped find thousands of pounds’ worth of illegal tobacco hidden away in Staffordshire shops.
Cooper, a four-year-old fox red labrador, led Staffordshire County Council’s Trading Standards team to the stashes during raids at six independent stores.
During the swoops, 36,720 illegal cigarettes and 14.55kg of illegal hand rolling tobacco with a street value of about £9,000 were seized. The raids were part of Operation Cece, a National Trading Standards initiative in partnership with HMRC to tackle illegal tobacco.
Council cabinet member Victoria Wilson said: “The sale of illicit and counterfeit tobacco products is a crime that not only damages local communities and people’s health but also harms legitimate businesses. “These latest successful raids in Stafford and Cannock prove that the service will continue to take the necessary action where they know it is going on. All tobacco is harmful but illegal tobacco makes it easier for children to start smoking and get hooked. “Furthermore, sellers also rarely care who they sell to, so I would urge anyone with information about the sale of such products to get in touch with the team.”
More than five million illegal cigarettes have already been seized from retail outlets across England and Wales in the first six months of this year as part of Operation Cece.
The haul of illicit products also includes more than 1,700kg of hand rolled tobacco and 66kg of shisha. In total, more than £2.7 million pounds’ worth of illegal tobacco products have been taken off streets since the operation began in January.
In the UK it is estimated that about 1 in 10 of all cigarettes and half of all hand-rolling tobacco are not duty-paid.
The illegal trade in tobacco also has strong links to organised crime and illicit tobacco can have a devastating effect on health.
Anyone with information about the sale of counterfeit tobacco and cigarettes in Staffordshire should call the Fight the Fakes hotline on 01785 330356.