News

SNIFFER dogs were in the city centre yesterday to mark National No Smoking Day and a Trading Standards crack down on illegal tobacco.

Tens of thousands of cigarette packets being sold illegally from a house in Wolverhampton have been seized after a raid by officers.

Sniffer dogs helped to catch a shopkeeper from Eastbourne found with illegal cigarettes.

Specially-trained dogs have managed to sniff out thousands of stashed illegal tobacco products in a three-day operation across the city.

MEET Phoebe who has a real nose for success after training to be a sniffer dog hunting out smuggled hauls of illegal tobacco.

A trader who was found to be in possession of illegal cigarettes and tobacco, has been ordered to pay £228,737 after a proceeds of crime hearing in Birmingham. The massive haul of illegal tobacco products was located by sniffer dog Phoebe, from Pembrokeshire based B.W.Y Canine Ltd.

Police officers, sniffer dogs and trading standards swoop on shops in Freeman Street, during crackdown on illegal tobacco.

Sniffer dogs from Wales based B.W.Y Canine Ltd discovered 11.6kg of rolling tobacco and 32,700 cigarettes with a total street value of £8405 and would cost £20,172 to buy legitimately. 

Shop keeper sprays deodorant in a bid to confuse crime-fighting sniffer dog. 

The shop had state-of-the-art equipment to conceal the tobacco, including remote-controlled electromagnets that resisted a crowbar.

A shop keeper sprayed deodorant around his shop in a bid to confuse a crime-fighting dog who was sniffing out illegal tobacco.

'Scamp' was working with trading standard officers from Gloucestershire County Council who were raiding a shop in Gloucester city centre.

There was a despite a sophisticated state-of-the-art set up to conceal the cigarettes, including powerful electromagnets that resisted a crowbar.

Trading Standards officers were joined on the raid by Scamp and handler Stuart Phillips of B.W.Y. Canine Ltd to carry out the raid on the shop

Using his nose for crime, ‘Scamp’ was able to find the concealments at this latest raid in minutes.

This was despite the best efforts of the shop keeper who started spraying deodorant around the shop soon after officers arrived in an effort to confuse the dog.

The first concealment was found in a store room at the rear of the premises behind a false wall measuring around 10 feet high and 4 feet wide.

It disguised by a shelf and kept shut by remote controlled electromagnets which were so powerful, they resisted a crowbar.

It was only when the wood the electromagnets were screwed to broke that the concealment could be forced open.

The system was powered from the mains with a battery back up meaning that when officers turned the power off, the electromagnets continued to function keeping the concealment securely closed.

The second concealment was a more basic panel at the end of the counter held closed by a catch.

When closed, “false” screws hid the fact that the ends of the wooden panels were not in fact screwed together.

Counterfeit brands including Mayfair, Richmond and Regal were found together with other brands not found in the UK including Minsk and Fest.

In total, there were 422 packets of 20 cigarettes and 109 pouches of 50g hand rolling tobacco which would have netted the shop around £2,500 if sold.

After all his hard work, all ‘Scamp’ wanted as a thank you for his efforts to crack down on the supply of fake tobacco was a play with his tennis ball.

Councillor Nigel Moor, cabinet member responsible for trading standards at Gloucestershire County Council said: “This demonstrates the degree of sophistication involved in the sale of illegal tobacco. The hiding place has taken time and effort to create, suggesting a highly profitable activity.

“Thankfully we had the brilliant team from B.W.Y. on hand to help and ‘Scamp’ helped us to get a great result.

“Trading standards will continue to prosecute shop owners who sell illegal tobacco from their shops.”

Tim Harman, cabinet member for public health, said: “Whilst we all know the dangers of smoking, counterfeit tobacco is often made without being subject to quality control and in many cases, the cigarettes do not self-extinguish as legal cigarettes are required to by EU law.

“I would urge smokers to stop supporting criminal activity by buying illegal tobacco and to seek support from the smoking cessation service at www.hlsglos.org.”

‘Scamp’ is a bit of a crime fighting celebrity across the country, helping trading standards teams around the UK to crack down on the illegal sale of tobacco.

More than one million illegal cigarettes have been found by Coventry Trading Standards Officers with help from some special sniffer dogs.

A shopkeeper who sold dangerous cigarettes from a store in Worthing has been handed an 18 month community order after being prosecuted by Trading Standards.