£1 million worth of illegal cigarettes found in Calderdale

Officers from the Halifax Neighbourhood Policing Team were joined by West Yorkshire Trading Standards yesterday for the bust.

A large quantity of illegal cigarettes were discovered following visits to seven premises in Halifax.

West Yorkshire Trading Standards, West Yorkshire Police, Calderdale Licensing and Wagtail UK Ltd were following up on information provided by members of the public.

The seizure included over 164,000 illegal cigarettes and over 13kg of illegal hand rolling tobacco much of which was discovered in sophisticated concealments such as hydraulically operated systems hidden in walls and in door frames.

A spokesperson from the policing team said: " Yesterday a joint operation with Trading Standards took place to detect the importation and sale of illegal tobacco and cigarettes in the Calderdale Area.

In excess of £1million pounds worth of cigarettes were recovered."

Since 2014 the five West Yorkshire Public Health authorities have been working in conjunction with Trading Standards tackling the illicit tobacco trade.

David Lodge, Head of West Yorkshire Trading Standards said: “The public must take a more active role to ensure that young people in our communities are protected and can no longer access illegal tobacco.

"Those that trade in illicit tobacco are often involved in other criminality such as drug dealing, sexual exploitation and human trafficking.”

Councillor Alison Miles of the West Yorkshire Joint Services Committee which oversees the work of Trading Standards added: “Those that trade in illegal tobacco target children and young smokers, the people making money out of this do not care who they sell to.

"This campaign is about raising awareness amongst local communities and all intelligence received from the public is welcome.”