Record haul of illegal tobacco and vapes worth £208,000 seized in Bournemouth

In a record haul, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council has seized just under 32kg of illegal rolling tobacco, 145,740 cigarettes, over 7,600 unregulated vapes and over 10kg of illicit shisha with a combined street value of around £208,000.

Working closely with HM Revenue and Customs and Dorset Police, the council’s Trading Standards officers visited 12 off licences in Bournemouth town centre, Wallisdown, Winton and Boscombe areas as part of Operation CeCe and a separate targeted day of action that took place earlier this month.

The first two targeted raids as part of Operation CeCe took place across two days back in March at eight premises in the town centre, Wallisdown and Winton, where 18.7kg of rolling tobacco, 89,600 illegal cigarettes, 5,165 vapes and 10.35kg of shisha were recovered, worth around £130,000.

Most of the cigarettes seized on this occasion were located in a vehicle outside one of the premises.

Then in May, two more shops in the town centre were targeted, with officers seizing 6.8kg of rolling tobacco, 36,980 cigarettes and 1,279 unregulated vapes with a street value totalling £45,688, with some of the haul also located in nearby vehicles associated with the premises.

Following the completion of Operation CeCe, a multi-agency ‘day of action’ saw the focus turn to Boscombe at the beginning of this month, where over 6kg of hand rolling tobacco, 19,160 cigarettes and 1,170 vapes were seized at three off licences with the help of a sniffer dog.

“This is a big statement on how seriously the council, HM Revenue and Customs and Dorset Police take this issue,” Cllr Kieron Wilson, portfolio holder for housing and regulatory services at BCP Council, said.

“We’ll continue to carry out visits to premises across our community and come down hard on those breaking the law, especially with the health and safety risks that items such as these pose, particularly to the younger members of our society.”

Over the past 12 months, the council’s Trading Standards officers have removed a total of 16,215 illegal vapes, 245,560 cigarettes and over 67kg of hand rolling tobacco from sale across our three towns, worth a staggering £395,673.

The council added that further targeted operations are now planned at premises across the three towns over the coming months.