Overview
- Joint police, trading standards and HMRC teams have carried out intelligence-led raids across multiple UK towns and seized large quantities of illicit tobacco and cigarettes that were hidden in shops and linked vehicles.
- Operations connected to Operation CeCe resulted in more than 40,000 illegal cigarettes and nearly 14kg of hand‑rolled tobacco taken in Great Yarmouth while separate searches in Market Weighton and Whitchurch recovered kilos of rolling tobacco and thousands of cigarettes.
- Suffolk Police arrested a shopworker after officers found about £4,500 worth of illegal tobacco in a concealed compartment in an Ipswich store and Trading Standards and HMRC have taken over enquiries in several cases.
- Officials highlighted the use of hidden compartments and linked vehicles to conceal stock and urged the public to report suspicious sales to local forces or Crimestoppers to help ongoing investigations.
- In Tasmania the Department of Health has seized roughly 74,000 illicit cigarettes and 38kg of loose tobacco this month and the government has introduced a bill to create new offences, boost penalties and allow temporary closures of offending businesses.