Illegal tobacco seized in North Tyneside

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More than 14,000 cigarettes and nearly 5kg of rolling tobacco worth an estimated £10,000 have been seized from a shop in Wallsend.

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An operation by North Tyneside Council’s Trading Standards team and Northumbria Police under Operation CeCe, which is a National Trading Standards initiative in partnership with HMRC to tackle illegal tobacco, found the items which were a mixture of either counterfeit products or had no duty paid.

The illegal tobacco was found in a storeroom, a bag behind the shop counter, and a cigarette cabinet.

Phil Scott, North Tyneside Council’s head of environment, housing and leisure, said: “This was one of our biggest seizures of illegal tobacco.

“We’re delighted that, through working with our partners, we have removed these illegal products from sale.”

Chief inspector, Ron Charlton, of Northumbria Police, said: “We are committed to pursuing criminals and protecting our communities as part of Operation Sentinel, which is our collaborative approach to tackling serious and organised crime, and we will continue to work with all our partners to prevent and disrupt these groups.”

The trading standards service, which is delivered for the council by Capita, is now conducting an investigation following the seizure from the Wallsend store.