From: Guardian
By Daniel Binns
Around 15,000 cigarettes, 95 bottles of alcohol and 2,400 grams of rolling tobacco were seized during an operation to tackle the sale of counterfeit and smuggled goods in shops, it has emerged.
Trading standards officers from Waltham Forest Council confiscated the haul from across seven stores in the borough during spot checks on December 23.
Almost 20,000 grams of snuff and 68 boxes of chewing tobacco were also seized.
The operation was carried out in partnership with officials from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
The council, which released the figures this week, says it will not reveal further details of the shops because it is considering prosecuting some of them in the courts.
But it has said that a total of 12,100 cigarettes, 900grams of Golden Virginia tobacco and 16,420 grams of illegal snuff was seized from just one of the businesses alone.
Smuggled goods are thought to cost HMRC around a billion pounds a year in lost potential taxes.
Cllr Clyde Loakes, the council’s cabinet member for environment, said: “It’s a remarkable haul and a credit to the work of our Trading Standards team.
““Most importantly the public who buy these products in good faith are being duped and receiving sub-standard goods.
“Who knows what counterfeiters may put in fake booze and cigarettes that could present an even greater health risk than the real McCoy?
“However, they’re also doing harm to others too.
“As well as the problem of unregulated goods being impossible to trace back if things go wrong, there is also the widely accepted fact that many of the profits derived from counterfeit goods lead directly back to organised crime.
“It also damages legitimate businesses that are playing by the rules and struggling enough in the current financial climate without having unfair competition undercutting them.”
