Illegal vapes worth £18k seized in shop raids

Police and Trading Standards officers, supported by sniffer dogs, led a week-long crack-down on the sale of illicit products

Hundreds of illegal disposable vapes worth more than £18,000 have been seized in a number of shop raids in Newark.

Nottinghamshire Police and Trading Standards teams from Nottinghamshire County Council said they filled six large bags during the joint operation at three businesses in the town centre.

The week-long activity - during which 1,400 illegal vapes were recovered - was part of a crack-down on the sale of illicit smoking products.

Insp Charlotte Ellam, district commander in Newark and Sherwood, said: "Shops which blatantly sell illegal vapes negatively impact genuine, law-abiding retailers who struggle to compete."

The seized vapes are said to be worth more than £18,000

Disposable vapes approved for sale in the UK have a maximum nicotine strength of 20mg/ml and are normally advertised as having approximately 600 puffs in them.

Any vape claiming to provide more than 600 to 800 puffs will have a tank size larger than 2ml and therefore illegal. Limits were set to protect consumers from excessive nicotine intake, the force said.

Councillor Gordon Wheeler, deputy cabinet member for public health at the county council, said: “Unfortunately, businesses are sometimes tempted to sell non-compliant vapes and illegal tobacco products with little regard for the impact on their customers’ health."