Millions of illegal vapes and tobacco products seized in new crackdown – as sales to…

November 26, 2024, 00:51

Data shows that more than a million illegal vapes have been seized in a major new crackdown last year.

More than 1.19 million illegal vapes were seized across England during the 2023/2024 crackdown, according to data from National Trading Standards (NTS) and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

This marks a dramatic 59% increase in the number of vapes being withdrawn from sale compared to the previous year, indicating stricter enforcement efforts and growing concerns about the safety and legality of vaping products.

The seizures were part of Operation Joseph, a joint initiative targeting the sale of illegal vaping products that do not meet British safety standards.

Many of the vapes seized during the operation were found to contain excessive nicotine levels, posing potential health risks to consumers.

The operation highlights the ongoing battle to keep unregulated products off the market, especially those that could endanger public health.

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One of the main concerns emerging from the latest data is the growing trend of illegal sales of vapes to children.

In the fourth quarter of 2023-2024, almost a quarter (24%) of 775 personal test purchases by Trading Standards resulted in the illegal sale of vapes to under-18s.

This alarming statistic shows the need for stricter enforcement to protect young people from accessing harmful products.

Meanwhile, Operation CeCe, a partnership between NTS and HMRC launched in 2021, continued to disrupt the illicit tobacco trade.

More than 19 million counterfeit cigarettes and more than 5,100 kg of roll-your-own tobacco worth £11.7 million were seized last year. Since its inception, the operation has seized 46 million illegal cigarettes and 12,600 kg of tobacco.

‘Protection of communities’

Lord Michael Bichard, chairman of National Trading Standards, said: “Protecting communities, public health and protecting honest businesses struggling to compete with the flood of illegal products is at the heart of what Trading Standards does.”

“Trading Standards has seized almost 1.2 million illegal vapes and more than £26 million worth of illegal tobacco to date.

But the reality is that further action is needed to remove more illegal – and in many cases dangerous – products from sale.

‘Criminals don’t care who they sell to’

Richard Las, director of the HMRC Fraud Investigation Service, said: “Illicit tobacco undermines legitimate retailers, funds wider crime and damages public health, while depriving our vital public services of around £2.2 billion every year.

“We will continue to work with partners like Trading Standards to tackle this organized criminal trade that is harming our communities.

“These criminals don’t care who they sell to, including children.

“We urge anyone with information about the smuggling, distribution or sale of illicit tobacco to report it online.”

‘Illegal and harmful’

Minister for Health and Prevention Andrew Gwynne said: “This shows how many illegal and harmful fumes are on our streets, putting consumers and children at risk.

“To further tackle the illegal trade in tobacco products and vapes, we are investing an additional £10 million to keep these harmful products out of the hands of children.

“The Tobacco and Vapes Act will strengthen enforcement activities, allowing trading standards to take faster action to enforce the law, including on non-compliant products, and close loopholes.”

Kate Pike, Lead Officer for Tobacco and Vaping at the Chartered Trading Standards Institute said: “Trading Standards officials recognize that it is very important that adult smokers can switch to legal vaping products that carry a fraction of the risk of their deadly tobacco. habit.

“These figures show that we are working incredibly hard to remove illegal vapes from our communities and support businesses not to sell to children.

“We encourage anyone with information about companies flouting the law to report it to us so we can continue to deploy our enforcement resources as effectively as possible.”