Illegal tobacco and vapes worth £35,000 seized from Romford store

Counterfeit tobacco, cigarettes and vapes worth around £35,000 have been seized from a business in Romford, Havering in east London.

After weeks of gathering evidence, Havering Council’s Trading Standards team raided the premises early this month in a joint operation with police.

Officers were accompanied by sniffer dogs who are specially trained to detect the tobacco.

Upon arriving at the premises, they found the products concealed in magnetically sealed boxes and quickly removed them.

“This is excellent work from our Trading Standards team working with police and means these illegal and harmful products have been taken off the streets in our borough,” Councillor Ray Morgon, Leader of Havering Council, said.

“These operations include a lot of hard work behind the scenes, in gathering the evidence before they can carry out the operations and I thank everyone for their hard work on this.”

Acting Superintendent Lisa Butterfield, from the Police East Area Basic Command Unit [BCU], said: “Illicit tobacco can not only cause serious harm to people’s health, but the proceeds are often used in organised crime and fund more serious offences.

“This is another great example of our partnership work with Havering Council.”