Illegal tobacco worth £200k seized

A HUGE haul of illegal tobacco with an estimated street value of £200,000 has been seized as police smashed a sophisticated smuggling operation in the town. Officers from the Wiltshire Police Economic Crime Unit intercepted hundreds of 2.5kg packages of low-grade tobacco at a courier service in the town centre after a two-month investigation. In total, police have recovered around 600 parcels, which had been imported from China and disguised as tea.

A spokesman for the ECU, based at Gablecross police station, said it was the largest seizure of its kind in the county in at least 15 years. As well as the vaccum-packed bags, mostly seized in Swindon with some others found in Bristol, Bath and Chippenham, officers also discovered thousands of counterfeit pouches, marked as rolling tobacco brand Golden Virginia. A 39-year-old man was arrested in connection with the imports and has been bailed pending further inquiries, while a 28-year-old Chinese national is being held in custody pending immigration checks.

Arresting officer PC Billy Nutt said: “The packages comprised of tobacco that had been labelled as tea and had been smuggled from China through courier services, including China’s postal services, the UK postal service and courier firms, including one in Swindon. “We believe these individuals would create accounts with the couriers, either in their own names or business names, perhaps as restaurants and use that to get the tobacco in under the guise of Chinese tea.

 “They can track the packages and know when it has arrived. They then pick it up from the depot, take it away to be repackaged and rebranded before being sold on the street or to convenience stores. “The 50g pouches could sell for anything between £8 to £15 and I would estimate the value of this seizure to be around £200,000.” PC Nutt also warned the counterfeit tobacco that has flooded the market in Swindon in recent months can bring with it health risks.

 He said: “Tobacco is carcinogenic anyway but this is low-grade stuff and has other rubbish like sawdust mixed in with it to bulk it out, which can have serious consequences for your health. “The packaging itself may be counterfeit but top quality and it is impossible to know the difference but people should be aware of cheap tobacco. “Also in terms of advice for courier firms it is all about knowing your customer, asking questions and spotting suspicious activity if they want to avoid becoming inadvertently involved. If in doubt ring the police.”