Shop in Hinckley closed down after selling illegal cigarettes to undercover officers eight times
A shop has been ordered to close for three months after it was caught selling illegal or counterfeit cigarettes to undercover investigators on eight occasions. When it failed to adhere to the law, trading standards officers from Leicestershire County Council staged a series of raids on Easy Shop, Hinckley, during which they found more than 1,800 packets of illicit tobacco products hidden away.
The council released details of the case today (Friday, January 17) following a hearing at Leicester Magistrates' Court on Wednesday this week, when the closure order was made. The authority said it had launched an investigation into the shop nearly three years ago, and had carried out a number of 'test purchase' operations to verify reports the shop was breaking the law.
It said its officers first visited the business in June 2022, when its officer was able to buy a packet of counterfeit Richmond cigarettes. The team returned the next month and was again sold an illegal packet of cigarettes, the council said.
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As a result, its investigators, accompanied by Leicestershire Police officers, searched the shop four times between July 2022 and October last year. Using a sniffer dog, they found tobacco hidden in a number of places, including a stairwell at the back of the shop, the roof space of a stock room and an employee's car, the council said.
The illegal sales continued even after a change in ownership and a number of official warnings, the council said. The final test purchase was carried out this month, when two packets of illegal tobacco were sold.
This week, magistrates granted the closure order under Section 80 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014. The order, which is now displayed in the shop's window, prevents anyone from entering the property. Anyone who breaches the order is liable to be prosecuted.
The business must remain closed until Tuesday, April 15. It will continue to be monitored if it reopens for business.
Gary Connors, head of Leicestershire Trading Standards Service, said: "Our officers are actively tackling the trade in illegal cigarettes, which help to fund criminality and we will continue to work in partnership with Leicestershire Police to use all means at our disposal to disrupt those who seek to put our local community at a public health risk.
"Selling cheap or illicit cigarettes steals trade from our legitimate retailers who lose trade to rogue shopkeepers. All smoking is dangerous, but smoking illegal tobacco could potentially be even more harmful to health because the trade in counterfeit and illicit tobacco is unregulated, so there is no control over what is mixed with the tobacco.
"We will continue to clamp down on the sale of illicit cigarettes and vapes, as well as underage sales, to protect Leicestershire residents from traders who break the law. We really appreciate members of the public reporting suspicions of illicit or cheap vapes and tobacco sales."
What are illegal tobacco products and why does it matter if people sell them?
Illegal tobacco products - sometimes referred to as 'illicit' - are those which have been smuggled into the country. They include tobacco products that have no duty (tax) paid, counterfeit, or fake products, cigarettes called ‘cheap whites’ (produced solely for the smuggled market).
The county council advises that you can identify illegal tobacco products by their:
price – if a packet of cigarettes or pouch of hand rolling tobacco is cheap, it’s likely to be illegal (prices between £4 to £6 for a pack of 20 cigarettes and £10 for a pouch of 50g tobacco)
packaging – all cigarettes and hand rolling tobacco should be sold in mandatory dark green coloured packets
origin – such as foreign brand names (for example, Pect or NZ Gold), foreign health warnings on the packaging and/or no picture warnings
location in a store – if they are kept away from the tobacco gantry and out of view, for example, e.g. under the counter
All tobacco products are harmful to health. Many illegal tobacco products are unregulated. Young people can access cheap tobacco products because they’re sold at pocket money prices.
Cheap tobacco makes it too easy for children to smoke and become addicted. Adults who smoke are less likely to consider alternatives to smoking when tobacco products are cheap.
All legally manufactured cigarettes are produced with a paper that is self-extinguishable – which means the cigarette ‘goes out’ when the inhaling stops - to reduce the chance that they should set fire to sofas and beds. Illegal cigarettes do not have this mandatory paper and therefore there is a greater chance of a fire.
Those who smuggle and sell tobacco products cost the government more than £2.5 billion a year in lost tax, resulting in less money available for public services e.g. hospitals and schools. The selling of illegal tobacco brings criminal behaviour into communities and neighbourhoods.
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