Tobacco seized from shops in HMRC raids

The operation uncovered more than 708,000 cigarettes and 567 kilos of hand-rolling tobacco and chewing tobacco all believed to be illicit, during the operation.

Officers from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), visited 86 shops and self-storage units in the county, including addresses in Blackpool.

Illegal tobacco was seized from 22 premises.

This included:

n 708,780 cigarettes, with an estimated £211,198 duty and VAT evaded

n 532.3 kilos of hand-rolling tobacco, with an estimated £126,538 duty and VAT evaded

n 34.82 kilos of chewing tobacco, with an estimated £4875 duty and VAT evaded

n 17,000 empty, suspected counterfeit, tobacco pouches

Sandra Smith, assistant director, of Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said: “The sale of illegal tobacco will not be tolerated by us or our partner agencies.

“Disrupting criminal trade is at the heart of our strategy to clampdown on the illicit tobacco market, which costs the UK around £2 billion a year.

“This is theft from the taxpayer and undermines legitimate traders.

“We encourage anyone with information about the illegal sale of tobacco to contact the 24 hour Hotline on 0800 59 5000.”

Six shop owners and storage unit tenants are due to attend police stations in the area for interviews under caution by HMRC officers later this month.

Speaking after the operation Paul Noone, head of Lancashire County Council Trading Standards Service, said: “We regularly act on intelligence received about illegal tobacco, and our operations have resulted in a number of successful prosecutions across the county.

“People who deal in illegal tobacco products should take this latest joint operation as a further warning that we will continue to work with partners such as HMRC to detect such illegal activities and to bring them to a stop.”