As a result of complaints from members of the public and intelligence gathered, Operation Oil targeting sellers of illegal tobacco was carried out recently. In a joint operation with West Yorkshire Trading Standards, West Yorkshire Police and Wagtail UK, tobacco detection dogs, over 90,000 cigarettes and 22.55kg of hand rolling tobacco were taken from 2 seized vehicles and 9 businesses, including a barber shop.
The premises in Leeds and Kirklees concealed the tobacco under counters, in ceiling spaces and in vehicles outside the shops. Acting on intelligence and with positive indications from the highly trained tobacco detection dogs, 2 vehicles were seized by the police. On gaining entry into the vehicles at a later date almost 72,000 cigarettes and over 8.5kg of hand rolling tobacco was recovered.
The haul from operation Oil, if genuine, would be worth in excess of £53,500, but in street value is less than half of that at just over £20,000 with a pack of 20 cigarettes being sold at about £4.00 and 50g of hand rolling tobacco selling at as little as £3.50, undermining national efforts to reduce smoking.
The operation was part of a wider programme called the Tackling Illicit Tobacco for Better Health Programme which is funded by the five Public Health authorities in West Yorkshire. The programme which is now in its fourth year utilises marketing campaigns and multi-agency enforcement to tackle the problems of the illicit trade.
The programme has taken more than 1.5 million illegal cigarettes and over 650kg of illegal hand rolling tobacco off the streets and with even more inspections planned in West Yorkshire over the coming weeks these figures are likely to increase.
Councillor Pauline Grahame, Deputy Chair of the West Yorkshire Joint Services Committee which oversees the work of Trading Standards, said “The illegal sale of tobacco in communities enables and encourages young children to buy it cheaply. It is really great that so many partners are working to tackle traders that 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.”
David Lodge, Head of West Yorkshire Trading Standards, said “All tobacco – both legal and illegal – kills half of all long term smokers. Over time traders have gone to greater and greater lengths to conceal their stocks of illegal tobacco. They think that by hiding it in vehicles off the premises it will go undetected. This operation should be a lesson to illegal tobacco sellers that Trading Standards along with partner agencies will continue to work together to tackle illegal tobacco no matter where it is hidden. I would encourage the public to continue reporting this type of activity to the Illegal Tobacco Hotline on 0300 999 0000.”
