£100,000 worth of illegal cigarettes seized in Dewsbury

Up to £100,000 of illegal cigarettes have been seized in Dewsbury in the latest operation delivered to dent the pockets of organised criminals.  

Officers from the Dewsbury and Mirfield Neighbourhood Policing Team and colleagues from West Yorkshire Trading Standards are continuing to investigate after making the significant seizures with the aid of a sniffer dog in the Dewsbury and Mirfield area on Tuesday (6).  

Police, including officers from the Dewsbury Town Centre team, found illegal goods at all four stores visited and believe the items were linked to organised crime groups operating in the area.

The seizure followed on from the discovery of more than £100,000 of carefully concealed illegal and potentially dangerous tobacco in Dewsbury last October. Contraband from those raids was founds stored in locations including a hinged wall hidden behind a bathroom mirror and a concealed cupboard hidden behind a false fuse board. In the latest seizure Dewsbury officers found illegal materials concealed in locations including a false wall and behind a false counter panel.

The seizures also come hot on the heels of the discovery of cannabis potentially worth up to £2million following the closure four cannabis factories in Dewsbury so far in 2024.

Inspector Liz Lockwood of the Dewsbury and Mirfield NPT, said, “The last few weeks have seen the NPT conduct a number of operations which have taken away significant amounts of profit from organised criminals.

“We believe cannabis recovered from the four factories closed down could be worth in excess of £2-million with the cigarettes and tobacco seized also valued at potentially in excess of £100,000  

“Cash from organised crime fuels drug dealing and county lines offending which entraps young people so it really is important we put these people out of business. I want to thank residents who have been giving us strong intelligence about this criminal activity and urge them to keep coming forwards.”

PC Adam Clarke, of the Dewsbury and Mirfield NPT, said, “It is well proven that money raised from illegal tobacco sales can be used to directly fund organised crime and we do believe that is the case here.

“These illegal products can also be more harmful to public health due to lack of regulation and testing and it is important we act to restrict their sales. All of the illegal items were seized by trading standards and will be destroyed.  None of us want to see organised crime in our neighbourhoods and I encourage residents to keep contacting us with any information which can help us disrupt criminal activity and the sale of illegal goods.”