Raids uncover £25k of illegal cigarettes and vapes

Thousands of cigarettes and hundreds of vapes were seized in the raids
- Published
Illegal tobacco and vapes worth £25,000 have been seized in a series of raids in a city.
Officers from Stoke-on-Trent City Council's trading standards team and Staffordshire Police searched four sites in High Street, Tunstall, on 4 June.
About 20,000 cigarettes, 6.5kg of hand-rolling tobacco, 650 vapes and 22 tubs of shisha were recovered, a city council spokesperson said.
Councillor Amjid Wazir said illegal tobacco and vapes often exploited vulnerable workers and undermined legitimate businesses.
The raids were part of Operation Cece – a national trading standards and HM Revenue and Customs initiative aimed at tackling the supply of illegal tobacco.
That came after the introduction of the ban on single-use vapes on 1 June.
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