More than 10,000 illegal cigarettes, hand-rolling tobacco, 350 illegal vapes and cash were seized recently from two premises in Grantham.
According to local reports, raids were carried out by Lincolnshire Trading Standards, Lincolnshire Police’s licensing team and Grantham’s neighbourhood policing team when considerable amount of illicit tobacco products were seized from the two shops.
At 28 Westgate, known as The Local Store, illegal goods were found hidden in three separate locations – in a hide behind a bathroom mirror, in an electrically operated magnetic lock beneath the counter, and under the counter floor.
At ‘Baltic’ located at 16 Westgate, approximately 3,000 illegal cigarettes and 100 illegal vapes were found – mainly in the rear storeroom.
According to Lincolnshire Trading Standards officer, the complexity of the hides – both using electro-magnetic locks – in use in the second shop show that this was a “professional enterprise with the specific objective of selling illegal cigarettes”.
“Increasingly, we are finding shops selling illegal cigarettes also sell illegal vapes. Some of the illegal vapes seized contained way over the legal limit of nicotine, which some having the same nicotine content as 150 cigarettes,” reports quoted Principal Lincolnshire Trading Standards officer, Andy Wright, as saying.
PC Mark Barr, Community Beat Manager for the Grantham Neighbourhood Policing Team (NPT) said: “We know that the sale of illegal goods like this is linked to youth anti-social-behaviour (ASB) as well as organised crime.
“Disrupting that activity through raids at stores where we think there may be counterfeit goods puts an almighty dent in the profits of criminal gangs. Make no mistake, these stores can make up to £50,000 a week, so the profits involved in selling what is an illegal and often dangerous, product are quite staggering.”
