From: Birmingham Mail (UK)
CUSTOMS officers seized almost 80,000 illegal cigarettes in a raid on a Dudley Market stall which also netted counterfeit clothing.
Others involved in the swoop earlier this month, which also targeted a van and a private address, were officers from Dudley trading standards and NHS Dudley.
Coun David Stanley, Dudley cabinet member for environment and culture, said: “The people who sell these goods are not helping our community or honest local traders and we will not hesitate to act upon information we have received.”
Valerie Little, Dudley’s director of Public Health, said: “Many of the people who sell counterfeit cigarettes have no morals or scruples about selling to children, creating new generations of smokers who will become addicted from their teens.”
Keith Morgan, for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, said teams of officers were actively hunting law-breakers.
