Warning over black market toxic tobacco

BLACK market cigarettes containing up to 500 per cent more cancer-causing chemicals are being sold by rogue traders and some corner shops.

Much of the cheap cigarettes and tobacco on sale is counterfeit, according to research by the Local Government Association (LGA).

As a result they contain higher levels of poisons such as nicotine, tar, lead and arsenic. Counterfeits also have up to 500 per cent more of the toxic metal cadmium.

Croydon Council trading standards officers seized 4,600 fake packets of 50g Golden Virginia Hand Rolling Tobacco worth £85,000.

Manchester and Coventry have also seen raids and prosecutions, with officers finding stashes hidden under floorboards, in toilet cisterns, boxes of sweets and in ceilings.

LGA spokesman Simon Blackburn said: ‘Illegal tobacco being sold cheaply through the black market by rogue traders is funding organised criminal gangs, damaging legitimate traders and robbing the taxpayer of more than £2billion that could be spent on schools, hospitals and caring for the elderly.

‘Any shopkeeper thinking of selling illegal tobacco should think again.’