At least one million illegal cigarettes were seized across the North East last year, according to new figures from trading standards.
And on the back of those shocking figures, health campaigners around the region have joined forces with trading standards and the police in our area to renew a campaign urging more is done to tackle the issue. Illegal tobacco constitutes 11% of the market in our region, and campaign group Fresh have highlighted how "cheap, illegal" tobacco makes health inequalities worse.
The renewed Keep It Out campaign is asking members of the public to report illegal tobacco to the authorities and help get it off the streets. Operation CeCe - a partnership between trading standards and HMRC saw 1,030,900 illegal cigarettes and 340kg of illegal hand-rolling tobacco seized over 2021/2022 across the LA7 group of local authorities from County Durham northwards.
