Illegal vapes and tobacco worth £2m seized

Almost £2m worth of illegal vape and tobacco products have been seized in south east Wales in just over a year as police tackle the "expanding" problem.

About 330,000 illegal cigarettes and 23,000 vaping devices were among the seizures by Gwent Police and Newport City Council's Trading Standards over the past 15 months.

Many of the locations raided had links to organised crime, officers said, with money from illegal vape sales used to fund "criminal activity at a higher level".

Concerns have also been raised about the effect on young people's health in particular, with some vapes having much higher nicotine content than the legal limit, while others contain cannabis products.

Operation Firecrest, which was launched in October 2023, has seen closure orders issued against more than 50 premises selling illegal vapes and tobacco products, mainly in the Newport area.

They can include fake or counterfeit goods traded illegally, products with higher levels of nicotine than the legal limit, or containing other unknown substances.

Ch Insp Stevie Warden said: "You may look at vapes as a simple nuisance, but it's not.

"If that £2m… had gone into feed the organised crime gangs, it would have a huge effect on the persons within our community."

BBC Wales was invited along to a recent enforcement visit, where police and trading standards officers searched a vape shop in Newport for suspected illegal goods.

The visit unearthed dozens of illegal vapes found hidden in secret shelves, both in the shop front and a back room.

Clare Montgomery-Brown, a police community support officer (PCSO) who has been on many such unannounced visits, said illegal tobacco supplies and vapes were found "more often than not".

"They're not on display, they're very clever," she said.

"What we're finding now is that they're getting more sneaky, in terms of where they're hiding it."

In a briefing at Pill Police Station, officers were told they would be visiting three Newport premises - all at once, to reduce the risk others are alerted.

On arrival at the site visited by the largest team, there was a man smoking outside – he said he spoke little English, but was looking after the shop for a friend.

A woman appeared a moment later and also told officers she was helping out, but was not the owner.

Police and trading standards officers searched the dark and grimy back room, not finding much other than a bag of cigarettes hidden in a ceiling panel.

But, after 15 minutes of searching, Ms Montgomery-Brown discovered three hidden drawers at the bottom of a shelf, hiding dozens of suspected illegal vapes.

As the evidence was bagged up, her colleague discovered another handful in the main shop area.

The initial mood of frustration was now triumphant – it was a visit vindicated by the haul they found.

Following the visit, the council's trading standards team continued to investigate the shop.

No steps were taken against the two individuals in the premises, and PCSO Mark Watts admitted it could be difficult to find who exactly was responsible for the goods.

"We put lots of intel into finding who these shop owners are," he said.

"We do all the background checks to link those people via intelligence, and then it goes to the long term gain of further visits, further closures, and ultimately further prosecutions."

It was still a successful visit from the council's perspective, in their efforts to ensure traders in the city are complying with the law.

"The knock-on effect [of the raids] is lower, or no, sales to youngsters," said Steven Hay, principal trading standards officer at Newport City Council.

"Obviously there's a problem once a youngster starts getting addicted to tobacco, that's a long term problem for them."

Those concerns were shared by Gwent Police, who said selling highly addictive illegal products to young people could eventually lead some of them into criminality.

"They're also exploiting children or vulnerable people by giving them vapes, or bringing them into the organised crime gangs," said Ch Insp Warden.

"Using those tactics… to either sell the cannabis or acting in criminality associated with that sort of crime."

There are wider health concerns too, with officers saying that some vapes seized were found to have 25 times the legal limit of nicotine, while other products sold were also found to contain cannabis products.

Suzanne Cass, chief executive of anti-smoking charity ASH Cymru, said vaping products were "absolutely geared towards the younger market".

"We can't blame children for having been caught up within this marketing sandstorm," she said.

"The marketing has brought these children into a place where the products look attractive. They're available on our high streets. They're cheap."

Ms Cass said around a quarter of children had tried vaping and 7% were doing it "on a regular basis", adding action needed to be taken.

"One of the best ways to do that is to look at enforcement and regulation, which is why the action by the police is so important," she said.

"That will help us to drive that criminality out of our communities, and stop children from accessing these illegal products."