From: The Sentinal
PRIVATE detectives working for tobacco firms say Stoke-on-Trent is one of the easiest places in Britain to buy illegal cigarettes.
The investigators have raided pubs, shops, restaurants and markets in the city and uncovered an Aladdin’s Cave of cheap cigarettes sold for as little as £3 a pack compared with up to £9 on the high street.
They found illicit cigarettes – some copies of popular brands and others smuggled from countries such as Poland – at businesses in Hanley, Fenton, Shelton, Longton, Cobridge and Bentilee.
The racket is costing taxpayers £3 billion a year – with the dodgy fags packed with rat droppings, grass cuttings and chemicals.
Former Scotland Yard detective Will O’Reilly, who led the operation, said: “Stoke-on-Trent is up there with the worst places we’ve seen.”
