By Charlotte Webster-
A haul of 70,000 Illegal Cigarettes was seized by Bedford’s Borough Council’s Trading Standards, The Eye Of Media.Com has heard.
Officers from Bedford police in collaboration with the Council’s Trading Standards Team executed the seizure as part of a comprehensive search for counterfeit alcohol and illicit tobacco in the area. These patches of tobacco were illegally smuggled from foreign countries by shop managers or their associates, who evaded the payment of duties and taxes to maximise their profits and escape their legitimate tax payments.Counterfeit cigarettes are extremely dangerous because the ingredients used come from unknown sources and have been found in many cases to contain non tobacco vegetable matter.
Cigarettes are very harmful to the health and is the cause of millions of deaths in the UK annually. Illegal cigarettes of this type are usually several times more harmful and dangerous than ordinary cigarettes.
The operation focused on a number of shops in the Midland Road and Ford End Road areas of Bedford town, after investigators were tipped off by some undercover local reporters in the area. One reporter anonymously told The Eye Of Media.Com
” these people cannot possibly be the brightest thing going. They illicitly sell tobacco to anybody without a concern that they could be caught in the manner they were caught. The law is against illicit tobacco for a reason, but these bunch of illegally operating individuals only seem to care about their pockets than they do about abiding by the law”
Of the shops searched, three of them were found to have large quantities of illicit tobacco and alcohol stored in vehicles associated to the premises.
The stores selling the illicit tobacco now facing further enforcement action by Bedford Borough Council.
Bedfordshire Police’s Community Safety Sergeant, Liam Mitchell said in a statement: “This is an excellent example of partnership and multi-agency working. Our priority is keeping the public safe, part of which is ensuring that customers know what they are buying.
“The production and sale of counterfeit or illicit tobacco is often linked to organised crime and we work closely with the council to take a robust stance with any licensed premise that breaks the law. We are pleased to have assisted in taking such vast quantities of potentially dangerous products off our streets.