A haul of over £200,000 in illegal tobacco, cigarettes and vapes has been seized in raids across 12 off-licenses in Bournemouth.
Stores were visited in the town centre, Wallisdown, Winton and Boscombe in March, May and July as part of a large-scale multi-agency operation led by BCP Council.
Trading standards and sniffer dogs uncovered hidden storage rooms disguised as walls and shelves on shop floors secured by electro-magnets.
BCP Council said the latest seizures highlights the sophisticated methods individuals are using to conceal illicit products and avoid detection.
In some cases, products were laced with coffee grounds and onions in a bid to confuse and outsmart tobacco detection dogs when a premises is searched.
Trading standards officers, working with Dorset Police and HM Revenue and Customs, 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.
The first two targeted raids took place across two days back in March at eight premises 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.
The most recent raid 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.
BCP Council has announced further targeted operations to “come down hard on those breaking law”.
Sophie Sajic head of public protection at BCP Council said: “The safety of the public is our primary focus, and we continue to work hard to remove illegal products from sale across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.
“Thanks to the great work of our respective teams and partners, we are now able to take positive action to investigate the offending premises further with a view to initiating prosecutions or closing them completely.”
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