A huge crackdown on counterfeit tobacco has reaped rewards in Dewsbury.
Consumer watchdogs seized cigarettes and tobacco worth more than £20,000 in a town centre shop.
And West Yorkshire Trading Standards officers have pledged: “We will continue the fight”.
The seizure was part of Operation Henry, which has been running from April to this month, cracking down on the supply of illicit tobacco across nine regions in England. Each region, including West Yorkshire, has launched operations using specially-trained detection dogs.
They are provided by Wagtail UK and funded by the Department of Health.
The two Spaniels, Buster and Milo, helped detect the concealed stashes of tobacco at premises that were visited.
Leon Livermore, chief executive of the Trading Standards Institute, said: “This partnership is one more example of how trading standards works with the private and public sector to protect consumers and support legal business practices.
“Through this partnership, trading standards has a unique opportunity to share information and develop intelligence with the aim of taking illicit tobacco off the streets.”
In Dewsbury, West Yorkshire Trading Standards officers and and West Yorkshire Police raided a shop and found 121,720 cigarettes and 22.45kg of hand rolling tobacco not bearing statutory health warnings and suspected to be counterfeit. It has a street value of £22, 872.
Head of West Yorkshire Trading Standards, David Lodge, said: “Illicit tobacco undermines the government’s policy to reduce the harmful effects of tobacco as illicit tobacco is cheap and enables children to start smoking due to its affordability.
“Multi-agency work like this demonstrates to traders in illicit tobacco that we are taking this matter seriously and all complaints and intelligence received will be followed up.”
