Illegal cigarettes and vapes worth an estimated £38,000 have been seized from two shops in Warrington.
Officers from Cheshire Constabulary were joined by immigration, HMRC and Trading Standards colleagues to raid two shops in the Marsh House Lane area on Thursday, October 2, as part of Operation Machinize.
The operation was launched by the National Crime Agency in a bid to tackle money laundering, the criminal use of cash-intensives in high street businesses and immigration crime.
Illicit products had been concealed out of sight within shops, however the assistance of a specialist tobacco dog from Wagtail UK helped officers identify and seize the products.
A self-storage shipping container located near the Pink Eye roundabout in Warrington town centre was also found to be contain illegal products, with nearly 4,500 illegal vapes being found inside and seized.
Officers from the Constabulary’s Foreign National Offender (FNO) Unit and Protecting Vulnerable People Exploitation Teams (PVPE) seized:
- 28,840 illicit cigarettes
- 4,499 illegal vapes
- 22.65kg of illicit tobacco
All products seized from both shops have a combined estimated street value of £38,000.
An illegal worker was also arrested by immigration teams, with another person working in a shop on Orford Lane later arrested by officers on suspicion of public order offences.
Detective Inspector Upile Mtitimila, of the forces PVPE, said: “We work hard to tackle criminals operating in our communities and, while many businesses across Warrington are operating within the law, we have seen that there are a brazen few who, wrongly, think they can get away with distributing products that remain illegal for a reason.
“However, as this operation has shown, there really is nowhere to hide when we work in step with our partner organisations with a common goal in mind: keeping Cheshire a hostile environment for crime.
“These excellent results are a testament to the tireless work of our officers and wider community partners who day in and day out work to tackle organised criminals, as well as those who exploit the most vulnerable people in our society.
“With that in mind, we cannot take action like this without your support. Intelligence submitted to us from members of the public is vital to our investigations, so I would encourage anyone with any information or concerns about illegal activity in their area to get in touch and let us do the rest.”
Warrington Borough Councils cabinet member for licensing Cllr John Kerr Brown, highlighted: “The criminals involved in the trade of illicit tobacco and illegal vapes are often highly sophisticated and well-organised.
“This isn’t a matter of a few rogue shopkeepers – many operations are part of wider criminal networks that use advanced methods to evade detection and maximise profit.
“We urge members of the public to avoid purchasing from establishments known to sell illegal tobacco or non-compliant vaping products. Supporting these businesses fuels criminal activity and endangers public health.
“We’re grateful to partners for their support to tackle this criminality.”
