Northumbria Police have seized more than £200,000 worth of cigarettes in a crackdown on the supply of illegal, counterfeit goods.
Last week, the Force’s Neighbourhood Policing Teams in Byker and Benwell recovered a total of 330,000 suspected illegal cigarettes, 132kgs of hand rolling tobacco and a quantity of cash from three separate premises.
On Thursday, a haul of 180,000 cigarettes were seized after vigilant officers patrolling Shields Road, Byker saw suspicious behaviour near one of the shops.
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When they entered, they saw what they believed were counterfeit goods, a suspicion made stronger when the shopkeeper refused to engage.
A search of the address also recovered a quantity of cash which was seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
On Friday, a self-storage unit linked to a Newcastle-based trader was also searched and, with the help of a detection dog, 130,000 cigarettes and 128kg of hand-rolling tobacco seized.
The recoveries followed on from a visit earlier in the week which saw officers and Trading Standards join forces to carry out a series of checks.
During one visit in the Benwell area, 2000 packs of around 40,000 suspected counterfeit cigarettes were seized along with five kilograms of tobacco.
Investigations into all cases remain ongoing at this time.
Following the seizures, the Force has warned of the dangers of buying counterfeit goods.
Chief Inspector Dave Wheeler from Northumbria Police said: “Counterfeit cigarettes pose a real danger to people as they are not produced by licensed companies and contain unknown quantities of chemicals.
“People might think that it’s OK to buy them and take that risk, but what they don’t see is that the money used from the sale of these items is often used to fund organised crime and further illicit activity.
“As a Force, we are committed to tackling serious and organised crime, as part of Operation Sentinel, and will continue to pursue those involved in illegal activities, as well as protecting the public from the potential harmful effects of this type of criminality.”
Cabinet Member for Housing and Regulation, Cllr Linda Hobson, said: “All tobacco is harmful so I commend the police for making all these seizures. It will make a significant contribution to public health preventing this from getting onto our streets.
“The council works very closely with the police on these operations and always investigates when it receives information from the public about illegal activity.
"Anyone who wants to report anything should ring trading standards on 0191 2787878 and give information in the strictest of confidence.”
To report suspicious activity or behaviour use the Tell us Something page on the police's website.
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