Almost 500,000 illegal cigarettes destroyed after being found from Walsall shops

Isabelle Bates

27 November 2024 at 8:38 am·1-min read

Thousands of illegal cigarettes were seized — -Credit: (Image: Walsall trading standards)

Thousands of illegal cigarettes have been seized from shops across Walsall. They will soon be destroyed after trading standards officers collected them with assistance from police.

A spokesperson said that they found enough for a person to smoke 20 a day for more than 66 years. This would be just under 500,000.

Hundreds of vapes were also found in the operation, Walsall trading standards shared on X. They added in a statement on the site on Tuesday, November 26: "We're coughing today to sending for destruction enough cigs for a person to smoke 20 a day for over 66 years!

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"These were all illegal & seized from shops in Walsall. We also got rid of 100's of illegal vapes. That's a lot of coughing! Thanks to T3 @StMatthewsWMP for assisting."

An image shared alongside the statement shows multiple boxes being loaded into a van by police officers. A clear plastic bag can also be seen containing what appears to be boxes of cigarettes.

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