£40,000’s worth of illegal tobacco has been seized in Stevenage and Borehamwood after a tip-off received by Hertfordshire County Council’s trading standards department.
An estimated 155,000 cigarettes and 30kg of hand rolling tobacco were seized from commercial premises and vehicles a fortnight ago.
The operation was carried out in partnership with the Stevenage Police Neighbourhood Team and Wagtail UK, which provided a detection dog to assist officers.
An investigation to establish the authenticity of the tobacco is under way.
Stevenage Police Neighbourhood Team Inspector Simon Tabard said: “Hertfordshire Trading Standards are a strong member of the Community Safety Partnership in Stevenage and we were pleased to support them in the operational phase of this investigation.”
Guy Pratt, Head of Hertfordshire Trading Standards at the county council, added: “We will continue to tackle the sale of illegal tobacco.
“This undermines legitimate businesses and we want to put a stop to this trading so that genuine business can thrive in Hertfordshire.”
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