Illicit cigarettes, vapes and tobacco products have been seized from a city business following investigations by City of Wolverhampton Council.

Acting on complaints, the council’s Trading Standards team and officers from Bilston Police targeted a premises in the city where the goods were believed to be on sale.

Thousands of illegal items were found in the shop itself as well as in a storeroom and a concealed staircase.

Officers found 13,680 illicit cigarettes, 3.1kg of banned hand rolling tobacco and 1,546 illicit disposable vapes. In addition, 12 banned novelty lighters were discovered along with 16 vials of an unidentified liquid, suspected to be nicotine.

If genuine, the retail value of the vapes seized is an estimated £15,000, the value of the cigarettes seized is around £9,918 and the value of the hand rolling tobacco would be an estimated £1,890.

Action is set to be taken against the owner of the premises where the material was seized while further investigations will be carried out to identify their suppliers.

Once investigations have been completed, the illegal cigarettes and tobacco will be handed over to a recycling scheme to be dealt with in an environmentally friendly way.

The seizures, which took place during an operation on March 19, were carried out under two national Trading Standards initiatives, Operation CeCe and Operation Joseph.

Councillor Bhupinder Gakhal, cabinet member for resident services at City of Wolverhampton Council, said: “We are determined to clamp down on the availability of illicit products and are particularly concerned with illegal sales made to our younger residents.

“This operation forms part of our wider strategy in dealing with this issue and we will continue to carry out routine test purchases alongside targeted action days.

“I’d like to congratulate all those involved in this successful partnership operation, including our Trading Standards team and Bilston Police.”

Lord Michael Bichard, Chair, National Trading Standards, said: “The trade in illegal tobacco harms local communities and affects honest businesses operating within the law.

“Having removed 19 million illegal cigarettes and 5,103kg of hand rolling tobacco in 2023-24, Operation CeCe (a National Trading Standards initiative in partnership with HMRC) has taken £27.2 million pounds worth of illicit tobacco off the market since the operation launched in 2021 and continues to successfully disrupt this illicit trade.”

Officers from our Trading Standards team have issued some warning signs to look out for when buying cigarettes and tobacco or vapes.

The telltale signs of illegal tobacco include unusual taste, cheap price, unusual packaging, spelling mistakes or incorrect logos. They may also have health warnings that may not be printed in English, might not display a picture, might not be printed on a white background and may have different sized lettering to usual.

Residents are advised to look out for the following when buying vapes:

• The product must have a ‘warning’ diamond of not less than 10mm x 10mm containing an exclamation mark/skull and crossbones and the words Warning/Danger clearly visible on the packaging.
• There is a requirement for a batch number or other means to identify the specific production of the product, to permit the tracing of the product should a safety issue be raised.
• 30% of the packaging must display the required warning “this product contains nicotine which is a highly addictive substance” on both the front and back surfaces of the unit pack. 
• Illicit vapes are often produced in China. Many illicit vapes have packaging clearly meant for the American/Californian market.

Anyone who thinks they may have been sold illegal goods or suspect someone is selling them, can email trading.standards@wolverhampton.gov.uk