More than 80,000 illegal e-cigarettes and e-liquid products worth £800,000 have been seized from a warehouse in Salford. Salford city council’s trading standards team took the items from a wholesale distribution business in Broughton as part of a multi-agency raid.
Home Office immigration enforcement officers executed an immigration warrant and arrested five people suspected of working illegally at the premises, along with seizing more than £4,000 of suspected ‘profits’ from illegal employment. Firms proven to be facilitating illegal working can be fined up to £20,000 per worker.
Officers from Greater Manchester Police as part of Operation Vulcan, the North West Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit, and Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service also took part in the enforcement visit and Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service has now condemned the warehouse as unsafe. The owners have been served safety improvement notices.
