Illicit Tobacco Partnership

People in Greater Manchester are being encouraged to help keep kids safe and smoke-free by reporting illegal tobacco sales, often from ‘under the counter’ in local shops, so enforcement teams can take more products off the street. New figures reveal that, while fewer adult smokers are now buying illegal tobacco (20% in 2018 compared to […]

Britain’s biggest cigarette company is facing questions over its links to the Belarus regime as a state-owned factory accused of fuelling smuggling produces millions of packets of its top brands each year

A Leeds man has been jailed for his role in a criminal tobacco smuggling gang after spending three years on the run

Up to seven million illegal cigarettes and two and a half tonnes of illicit hand-rolling tobacco have been removed from the streets of West Yorkshire, trading standards officers revealed today following the sentencing of a Bradford store manager

A hapless criminal with a stash of illegal cigarettes crashed into a car and fled before returning to the police station to retrieve his car and counterfeit goods – and was promptly arrested

A man who ran a Bradford mini market has been told he could face a prison sentence after admitting a string of charges relating to the sale of counterfeit cigarettes

A West Yorkshire shop thought it had devised an ingenious way to sell illicit tobacco: a drainpipe “chute” that allowed illegal cigarettes to be sent straight to a drawer behind the serving counter from a secret room

North Ormesby shop keepers hid secret stashes of cigarettes and tobacco in an “organised” operation

A specially-trained tobacco dog has helped police and Trading Standards officers uncover a haul of illegal substances across Wearside

A large amount of illegal tobacco has been seized by North Tyneside Council’s Trading Standards team from a shop in Wallsend