Hundreds of illegal vapes have been seized by cops after shop raids – thanks to a sniffer dog.
Five stores were targeted by police at Trading Standards officers.
In some shops, the dodgy e-cigarettes were found behind hidden panels.
Illicit cigarettes were also discovered.
An investigation is now underway following the raids in the market town of Grantham, Lincs, on Monday (11 Mar).
Disposable vapes that were being sold at the locations were offering 9,000 to 15,000 puffs per vape.
Regulations state that disposable vapes should only have around 600 puffs in them to comply with the legal size limits.
With all of these items being on sale to the local community the e-cigarettes could prove to be very dangerous to the public.
Due to the possibility of the items lacking important self-extinguishing safety features, having much higher nicotine levels, containing banned ingredients or having oversized tanks for nicotine.
The raided shops were Europe Foods, and Biedronka, both in Wharf Road, Grab and Go in London Road, and Jazz Mini Market in Westgate.
Another store in Wharf Road was visited but no items were found.
Both Biedronka and Europe Foods had a large quantity of illegal vapes and cigarettes seized from them.
In both cases some of the goods were found hidden behind false panels constructed into units in the storage room.
A sniffer dog from Wagtails – which works with Trading Standards – helped the authorities discover the goods.
Two men, 33 and 38, were arrested on suspicion of weapons offences at the Biedronka store after the teams found a handheld taser and suspected incapacitant spray behind the counter.
They have now been released on police bail.
A large quantity of illegal vapes and cigarettes were found in Grab and Go and Jazz Mini Market, with the latter also having hiding places for the goods.
Sgt Lee Mayfield who led the operation from Grantham Neighbourhood Policing Team part of Lincolnshire Police, said: “Our primary goal is to keep our community safe from harm, and illicit cigarettes, vapes and tobacco pose a serious risk to health as well as fuel funding for other related criminal activity.
“The sale of goods like this also has an economic impact by causing a shift away from footfall and purchases for authentic retailers.
“Most importantly, this is an issue which the public have told us they care about, and it’s right that they looked to their local Neighbourhood Policing Team to take action.
“We planned this jointly with Trading Standards as the agency with authority over illicit goods, and the results have been better than we hoped.
“Our next step will be seeking closure orders on the venues to prevent further harm to the public.”
This case is now being investigated by Lincolnshire Trading Standards, as the agency with primacy to deal with illegal trading in the county.
Andy Wright, Principal Trading Standards Officer added: “We have now set up working arrangements with Police and other partners in Grantham, Spalding, Boston, Lincoln, Gainsborough and Skegness to combat trade in illegal cigarettes and vapes.
“The results of such partnership working are plain to see.
“Many of the cigarettes seized were counterfeit, and none of those seized had been subject to UK Duty payment.
“This undermines local businesses who seek to trade legally.
“In one premises I found a failed asylum seeker with no right to work in charge of the shop. Details will be passed to Immigration Officers for further investigation.
“We have received information from members of the public that some of the businesses concerned have been linked to sales of vapes to persons under the age of 18 (vapes are an age restricted product).
“It is particularly concerning that some of the vapes recovered contained 15,000 ‘puffs’, or 25ml of fluid.
“This equates to roughly the same nicotine content as 315 average king size cigarettes.”
The article features on Need To Know.
