BEIJING: A raid on a suspected illicit tobacco factory has led to 16,000 illegal Chinese cigarettes and almost 12 kilos of loose leaf tobacco being taken off the streets of Islington.
The borough’s trading standards officers and police swooped on a house and seized a sizeable haul of dangerous counterfeit tobacco products with a street value of £11,000, the Gazette can reveal.
The seizure has prompted an appeal for the public to be wary of the dangers of cheap fake tobacco.
Doug Love, of Islington trading standards, said: “This was a decent sized haul.
These counterfeit Winston cigarettes have low quality printing and a non-EU picture warningThese counterfeit Winston cigarettes have low quality printing and a non-EU picture warning
“But any amount of enforcement will not really dent the actual sales. What’s got to happen is for people to be persuaded that it’s not worth buying illicit tobacco and in that way reduce the demand.
“We need a comprehensive London campaign to explain to the public why illicit tobacco is even more dangerous than genuine tobacco.”
The Gazette has been behind the scenes with Islington trading standards to find out more about the dangers of the trade in counterfeit or smuggled cigarettes.
