Over £3.7m worth of illegal tobacco seized in Black Country and Staffordshire

Trading standards teams have carried out hundreds of test purchases and raids at shops across the region in a bid to uncover

Sniffer dogs have also been drafted in to help find illegal stock hidden away in hard to find locations including inside walls and even inside an oven.

In some areas there has been an increase in the number of products seized and destroyed during the two year period with shopkeepers taken to court and fined for their involvement.

Walsall and Wolverhampton trading standards officers had the largest hauls. A total of 458,089 cigarettes, estimated to be worth around £3.2million and 3,591 packets of hand rolling tobacco valued at £43,092 were confiscated in Walsall between May 2014 and November last year.

This included a swoop by trading standards and HM Revenue and Customs across the borough in September which uncovered thousands of cigarettes where duty and VAT had been evaded.

While trading standards officers in Wolverhampton unearthed 500,000 of illegal cigarettes and 87 kg of tobacco between April 1 2015 and March 31 this year. The council could not confirm the total value but it includes more than £150,000 of stock discovered during a series of raids at off-licences in Wolverhampton in July last year.

Dog handler Stuart Phillips and detection dog Scamp discovered huge stashes of illegal cigarettes. Hiding places for the smokes included a small alcove behind a drinks shelf and a secret compartment in a pillar, where coffee had been stored at the bottom in a common tactic to try and put the sniffer dogs off.

While in 2014/15, the team carried out 25 inspections across the city finding 50,000 cigarettes and 15kg of tobacco.

In September Sandwell Council revealed details of a huge £100,000 haul of dangerous cigarettes and tobacco seized at shops across the borough during two days of raids. In total, 160,000 cigarettes and 61 kilogrammes of tobacco was uncovered with some of the tobacco products found to be mouldy and short in weight by as much as 40 per cent.

Seven traders were successfully prosecuted in the borough, with one forced to pay £6,000 while another was given a 12-week prison sentence suspended for 18 months.

The following month, a similar crackdown in Smethwick led to officers found 27,100 cigarettes and 278.5kg of hand-rolling tobacco with a retail value in excess of £22,000.

While in November more than 61,000 illegal cigarettes worth more than £29,000 were seized during raids in West Bromwich.

Trading standards manager Bob Charnley said: "Retailers have become increasingly sophisticated in their approach, adapting their methods in order to avoid detection, for example, by carefully concealing illegal products in hard to find locations. Some of the illegal tobacco was found hidden in an oven, behind a false wall, up in the loft, inside an old boiler, concealed underneath some stairs, hidden amongst some drinks and inside a rubbish bin."

In Dudley, teams seized 39,600 cigarettes and 582 packs of tobacco last year with an estimated value of £20,610. While in 2014, they confiscated 23,800 cigarettes and 274 packs of tobacco worth approximately £10,976.

So far nine cases have resulted in prosecution with fines and costs for the people caught with the illegal products. Several more cases are in the process of being prosecuted.

Dudley Council has been clamping down on the sale of illegal tobacco and cigarettes in the borough.

Officers make spot checks as well as reacting to tip-offs from members of the public.

Tony Oakman, strategic director for people directorate, said: "Selling illegal tobacco is a crime and offenders need to know they will face consequences if they choose to deal in these products.

"We know the public are less tolerant of these crimes as they impact negatively on health and our community and we would urge the public to report it if you know it is going on in your neighbourhood.

"While all smoking is harmful, illegal tobacco is sold at low prices and without the necessary health warnings which makes it easier for children and young smokers to get hooked on smoking.

"Cheap cigarettes also make it harder for people to quit and remain smoke free. It also deprives legitimate businesses of revenue and robs the taxpayer of money that could be spent on schools and hospitals."

While in Staffordshire, 50 test purchase checks resulted in 150,000 cigarettes being seized with an estimated value of £75,000.

The previous year, 76 test purchase checks were carried out and officers confiscated 120,000 cigarettes worth around £64,000.

The total value of illegal stock seized across the Black Country and Staffordshire during the past two years was estimated to be at least £3,714,678.