Search dog Yoyo helps officers seize illicit goods
Almost 200 packs of illicit cigarettes have been seized by the Royal Borough’s Trading Standards team with the help of a four-legged friend, Yoyo.
Officers carried out checks at retailers in Windsor, Ascot and the surrounding area and employed the help of the search dog during the operation.
Yoyo can detect tobacco located in hidden places and at one business, 190 packs of cigarettes, all of which had foreign labelling contrary to UK law, were discovered.
The team also seized 14 tubs of shisha tobacco with no labelling, and 11 packs of cigars, also with foreign labelling, from the same business.
The visits were part of Operation Cece, a National Trading Standards and HM Revenue & Customs initiative to tackle the illegal tobacco trade.
A specialist dog handler and Yoyo joined Trading Standards for the operation last week.
Councillor David Cannon, cabinet member for public protection at the Royal Borough, said: “Well done to the Trading Standards team and to Yoyo on this fantastic result.
“This operation helps to protect the community and law-abiding businesses from the sale of illegal, inferior and incorrectly labelled goods.
“Our message to those who choose to bring these products into our borough and attempt to sell them is simple – you cannot outsmart the detection dogs, so please do not try.”
Yoyo first discovered 10 packets of 20 cigarettes with foreign labelling hidden in a whiskey bottle box behind a counter, before more cigarettes were located in the shop’s storeroom.
The seized items will undergo examination and Trading Standards
is continuing enquiries with the business concerned, with a view to taking enforcement action and, if possible, identifying suppliers.
Enforcement options range from issuing formal warnings through to prosecution. A review of the store’s licence may also be conducted.
Anyone with information about the sale of illicit or counterfeit tobacco products should report this to Trading Standards at trading.standards@rbwm.gov.uk