Overview
- West Yorkshire Trading Standards and police seized over 1.3 million cigarettes, 68kg of hand‑rolling tobacco and cash across nine sites in Leeds and Kirklees on February 2, the region’s largest haul since the initiative began.
- HMRC, supported by Police Scotland, confiscated 1.7 million illicit cigarettes in Lanarkshire during January 28–29 operations, with five arrests and two men charged on suspicion of excise duty evasion as inquiries continue.
- An intelligence‑led operation in Newcastle on January 20 recovered more than 4,000 packets of illegal cigarettes and 370 pouches of tobacco, led to five arrests, and resulted in courts issuing three‑month closure orders to 14 shops since December.
- Wirral enforcement teams inspected six premises on January 27, seizing around 10,500 illegal cigarettes and non‑compliant vapes while disconnecting one business for illegal electricity abstraction.
- Southampton trading standards seized about £5,500 of illegal vapes and tobacco from a vehicle linked to a shop during a targeted visit, with further checks across the city continuing.