News

Croydon Council trading standards and HM Revenue and Customs teamed up with specialist detection dogs from Wales to track down and seize illegal tobacco worth over £300,000 from a Croydon storage unit. Croydon's "Operation CeCe" was hailed a massive success by the man who trained and handled the specialist search dogs, Stuart Phillips, from Pembrokeshire based B.W.Y Canine Ltd. 

A trading standards raid in Croydon last week seized 175,000 illegal cigarettes estimated to be worth more than £100,000. The discovery, made by specialist search dogs from Wales based B.W.Y Canine, has prompted the council to issue an urgent health warning over sales of cheap tobacco, and the threat to youngsters lured by the offer of cut-price cigarettes.

When Trading Standards want to find a hidden stash of illegal tobacco, they normally require the expertise of a highly trained canine. One of the most sophisticated illegal tobacco concealments was found recently in a Derbyshire shop, thanks to Cooper, a four year old search dog who has undergone many months of specialist training. We talk to Stuart Phillips, possibly the UKs most experienced illegal tobacco search expert during Operation CeCe in Derbyshire.

An operation has successfully been carried out in Worcester, where an estimated £10,000 worth of counterfeit and illicit tobacco was seized.

West Mercia Police carried out the operation yesterday (13 September) in partnership with Worcestershire County Council’s Trading Standards Team, to seize the illegal tobacco from two premises in Worcester City Centre.

Meet Griff and Kevin, two new puppies being trained to help with the fight against illegal tobacco crime in the UK.

Griff, a 15 week old Springer Spaniel from Jersey and Kevin, a 13 week old Working Cocker Spaniel bred here in Wales are to be trained by multi-award winning dog trainer Stuart Phillips from Pembrokeshire based B.W.Y Canine. 

TWO Pembrokeshire-based sniffer dogs have proved once again they are canine crime-fighters, this time sniffing out a huge haul of cannabis in the west Midlands, thought to have a street value of up to £200,000.

Sniffer dogs have helped officers at Trading Standards seize more than 35,000 illegal cigarettes from shops in Maidstone.

They were discovered over two days during an initiative supported by Kent Police Community Safety Unit, Maidstone Borough Council’s Community Protection Team and specialist sniffer dogs from Wales based B.W.Y Canine. 

Over 10,000 illegal cigarettes seized as two Ashington shops are raided by Trading Standards, Police and specialist search dogs. 

Shops selling illegal cigarettes and tobacco have been shut down after police raided businesses using specialist search dogs from Wales based B.W.Y Canine Ltd. 

The 12,000 fags and almost 10kg of tobacco were found across four newsagents in the Medway towns.

Three stolen motorbikes, a cannabis grow and more than £100,000 worth of illegal tobacco were all seized when officers from Rugby Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) carried out a joint operation with Warwickshire County Council Trading Standards and search dog from B.W.Y Canine Ltd, on Friday 18 June.

Operation CeCe is part of the HMRC funded national crackdown to disrupt the sale and supply of illegal tobacco in the UK.