Thousands of illegal vapes uncovered in raids

Stuart Phillips trains sniffer dogs to uncover the illegal vapes

More than 500,000 illegal vapes have been seized across England in a crackdown by trading standards teams.

The haul, for the six months up to the end of September, follows the launch of Operation Joseph.

The latest raid targeted a shop in Tamworth, Staffordshire, where illegal vapes were discovered with the help of specialist sniffer dogs.

Some of the items featured packaging seemingly aimed at children, the local trading standards team said.

Vapes, or e-cigarettes, can only be legally sold to those over 18, but the cheaper price of illegal products is particularly attractive to children.

UK laws also cover the ingredients, strength of nicotine and capacity of tanks.

Among the items recovered in Tamworth were products with a liquid capacity of 14ml, seven times the legal limit.

Similar raids on four shops in Newcastle-under-Lyme and Uttoxeter in September found almost 1,400 illegal vapes, with a street value of about £18,000.

Oversized and illegal vapes were discovered in the raid in Tamworth

Previous testing of illegal e-cigarettes discovered high levels of dangerous chemicals such as lead, nickel and chromium in some products, as well as diacetyl, a flavouring banned in the UK because it has been linked to a serious lung disease known as "popcorn lung".

Operation Joseph began in April, with trading standards teams saying it had seen a 46% rise in the rate of seizures compared with the previous year.

Stuart Phillips set up a company specialising in sniffer dogs after leaving the military in 2009 and has worked with the police and trading standards on many of the searches.

He said: "The concealments are getting more sophisticated and a human search team just cannot find them."

In Derbyshire, one of his dogs found a store of vapes hidden beneath a kitchen unit which could be raised up on hydraulics.