A joint operation in Leeds and Kirklees on Monday (Feb 2) between West Yorkshire Trading Standards, West Yorkshire Police, HMRC and tobacco detection dogs has led to the seizure of almost 1.3 million cigarettes and 68kg of Hand Rolling Tobacco.
If genuine, the value of the seizure would be over £1.2 million with a loss of duty to the Exchequer of around £700,000. A quantity of cash was also seized, believed to be the proceeds of crime, from the sales of illicit tobacco.
In this intelligence-led operation, a total of nine premises were visited across West Yorkshire, which resulted in the disruption of serious criminality. This is the largest seizure across West Yorkshire since the Illicit Tobacco initiative began 12 years ago.
The Tackling Illicit Tobacco for Better Health Programme, funded by the five Public Health departments of West Yorkshire, is helping people to stop tobacco use for good by educating communities and by investigating traders who supply cheap and illicit tobacco. The initiative uses multi-agency enforcement and community marketing campaigns to tackle the problems of the illicit trade.
Illicit tobacco often costs less than half the tax-paid price of legally sold tobacco. This maintains smokers in their habit and encourages young people to start smoking.
Illegal tobacco trading creates a cheap source for children and young people to start smoking, severely impacting genuine businesses by undercutting them. It is also linked to organised crime, contributing to an underground economy worth billions of pounds.
Victims of human trafficking are sometimes being forced to sell these illegal products in order to pay off debts they may have or even fearing harm to themselves or their families.
To date the programme has taken over 17 million illicit cigarettes and 4.3 tonnes of illicit hand rolling tobacco off the streets of West Yorkshire. Training sessions with thousands of members of the public and hundreds of frontline professionals have been delivered to raise awareness about the dangers and wider criminality associated with the supply of illicit tobacco.
Councillor Melanie Jones, Chair of the West Yorkshire Joint Services Committee, which oversees the work of Trading Standards, said “The illegal sale of tobacco in local communities enables and encourages young children to buy it cheaply.
"It is really positive that so many partners are working to tackle traders who break the law. I would like to thank members of the public for reporting illegal sales and encourage everyone to continue doing so to reduce the harm caused by tobacco in our communities.’
Linda Davis, Head of Trading Standards, Protecting Communities, said “We are committed to the fight against illicit tobacco. By taking tough action and working with partners, this operation has taken a significant amount of illegal products off the streets.
"Far from being a victimless crime, the illegal trade in tobacco helps to fund organised criminality, makes it easier for children to start smoking, and costs the government millions each year in lost revenue.”
Inspector Amanda Holroyd of Kirklees District Police, said: “We have been pleased to work with our partners on what has been a significant operation which has resulted in the capture of very large amounts of illegal goods.
“Seizing these items safeguards the public from products which are typically unregulated and untested and can contain dangerous levels of nicotine and other harmful substances. It is also proven that money raised from illegal tobacco sales can be used to fund organised crime, which is another reason it is important we prevent these products from being circulated on our streets.
“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."