Illegal vapes and cigarettes found at Wolverhampton shop - including stash inside concealed staircase
Thousands of illegal items have been discovered at a Wolverhampton shop - including inside a hidden staircase.
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Acting on complaints, Wolverhampton Council's Trading Standards team teamed up with police in Bilston on March 19 to target a city business where illicit goods were believed to be on sale.
They discovered thousands of illegal items in the shop itself as well as in a storeroom and concealed staircase.
Officers found 13,680 illicit cigarettes, 3.1kg of banned hand rolling tobacco and 1,546 illicit disposable vapes.
A total of 12 banned novelty lighters were also discovered along with 16 vials of an unidentified liquid, suspected to be nicotine.
If genuine, the retail value of the vapes seized is an estimated £15,000, while the value of the cigarettes seized is around £9,918 and the value of the hand rolling tobacco would be an estimated £1,890.
Wolverhampton Council said "action is set to be taken" against the owner of the premises while "further investigations" will be carried out to identify their suppliers.
The illegal cigarettes and tobacco seized will be handed over to a recycling scheme to be dealt with in "an environmentally friendly way" once investigations are complete, the local authority added.
Councillor Bhupinder Gakhal, cabinet member for resident services, said: “We are determined to clamp down on the availability of illicit products and are particularly concerned with illegal sales made to our younger residents.
“This operation forms part of our wider strategy in dealing with this issue and we will continue to carry out routine test purchases alongside targeted action days.
“I’d like to congratulate all those involved in this successful partnership operation, including our Trading Standards team and Bilston Police."
Lord Michael Bichard, National Trading Standards chair, added: “The trade in illegal tobacco harms local communities and affects honest businesses operating within the law.
“Having removed 19 million illegal cigarettes and 5,103kg of hand rolling tobacco in 2023 to 2024, Operation CeCe (a National Trading Standards initiative in partnership with HMRC) has taken £27.2 million pounds worth of illicit tobacco off the market since the operation launched in 2021 and continues to successfully disrupt this illicit trade."
