Southwark Trading Standards prosecute Xue and He in organised crime case involving illicit tobacco and illegal drugs In this feature l counterfeit tobacco l drugs l organised crime Secret service The murky world of gangland tobacco counterfeiting was no match for officers from Southwark Trading Standards, who rather unusually have been schooled in the surveillance techniques befitting a James Bond-style spy. Justin Miller explains F We thought that we were dealing with illicit tobacco we never for one moment thought wed find drugs rom shadowing a target on the London Underground to hours spent observing the comings and goings from specific properties and tailing targets on the road, our team at Southwark Trading Standards got much more than we bargained for when we took on a simple case of tobacco counterfeiting. Little did we know we were about to stumble across drugs, become involved in some serious covert surveillance and find our suspects embroiled with an organised crime gang (OCG). In Southwark, weve been investigating and prosecuting sellers of illicit and counterfeit tobacco for many years, as it undermines our small businesses and contributes to local health inequalities. However, this particular case proved how different crimes can be interconnected and that its often the same people who are responsible. Wed been carrying out directed surveillance of members of one particular OCG over a period of two months. This involved many hours in a car, either watching a property or mobile surveillance following cars. The intelligence that we had pointed towards counterfeit tobacco products we never thought for one moment wed find drugs. However, the mobile surveillance led us to a self-storage unit in south-east London, which we later searched along with another unit, the details of which we had discovered at one of the properties. When we CHaLLENgES searched the units, we Conducting surveillance on someone using the london discovered cannabis with a Underground was a challenge especially during rush hour. street value of 100,000, along Our target also appeared to be carrying out anti-surveillance with 1,500 counterfeit DVDs at drills for example, stopping straight after going through the a separate address. ticket barriers. This forced us to go past him, but despite this, The raids led to the arrest we were still able to maintain covert surveillance because of our and detention of two men expert training. who were known to us and We were trying to track the target down to an address, but we had eluded justice for some had no idea where we were going to end up on any particular years Xing Cao Xue and day. Fortunately, we didnt stray beyond south london but, had Rui-Xing He. it been further afield, this could have presented more logistical challenges. Its difficult to confirm the Mobile (car) surveillance isnt easy in london, and again you true relationship between Xue are never sure where you are going to end up. and He. We suspect that they are linked to an extension of the OCG, which perhaps then subdivided into smaller units. As part of the investigations, wed developed an i2 chart* with more than 30 individuals and more than 20 properties linked to each other. The chart grew bigger with each new aspect of criminal activity we investigated. Finding xue and He TIpS FOR SuCCESS Xue, from Camberwell, was Following previous successful IP-related confiscations, wed first arrested by the police received incentivisation payments under the proceeds Of in 2012 after they found him Crime act. We used part of this to fund accredited training acting suspiciously in Peckham on covert mobile and foot surveillance for four members of late at night with a shopping our team, and weve shared what weve learnt with other trolley. When they searched team members the trolley, they found around Weve also received specialist training for conducting 300 packs of hand-rolling surveillance in london using public transport. This proved tobacco. He was arrested and very useful when we found ourselves following a target on the his address was searched. london Underground. I cant recommend the training highly A quarter of a tonne of raw enough its given us a unique skill set that not many trading tobacco and thousands of standards officers possess, and the confidence to be able to counterfeit Golden Virginia conduct effective surveillance in challenging environments. It has also made us more aware of health and safety aspects and Amber Leaf packaging when conducting surveillance. Often, you dont know where sachets were found, along with you will end up or even who you may encounter 7,000 in cash. This money was Using software such as i2 makes presenting and sharing subsequently subject to a cash information much easier seizure by Southwark Council. Financial investigations are also a must. The old saying, Good local enforcement follow the money rings true in doing this weve identified links led to the police assets and transactions that have led to the full extent of the contacting us with a view to organised gangs criminality being uncovered trading standards leading on Weve learnt to assume nothing and not to try and second the trademark investigation, guess what we will uncover because it was our area of expertise. We compiled a prosecution case against Xue for fraud and trademark offences in relation to counterfeit tobacco production, but he failed to turn up in court and then disappeared. Unexpectedly, we spotted Xue at an address in September 2016, which we were searching as part of the larger investigation into the illicit tobacco organised criminal gang. Xue was subsequently arrested for the outstanding offences and was remanded in custody. In 2014, He who is from Sydenham had pleaded guilty and was sentenced in absence to 22-months imprisonment for a sophisticated DVD piracy operation. In 2013 wed seized 50,000 counterfeit DVDs from a manufacturing unit in Peckham, south-east London, following a tip-off from anti-piracy investigators. The defendant had been lying low, but was identified by our surveillance team at a rented south London property in December 2016. Entry warrants were obtained and, in February 2017, he was arrested at the address. In total, 1,523 counterfeit DVDs were seized. At the same time, the two self-storage units were also searched. Cannabis with a street value of 100,000 was discovered in a self-storage unit in london Some of the equipment used by trading standards officers involved in the direct surveillance Its difficult to confirm the relationship between Xue and He we suspect that theyre linked to an extension of the organised criminal group Xing Cao Xue was wanted for fraud and trademark offences dating back to 2012 Justice served At Inner London Crown Court in February 2017, He was handed anextra four months for bail offences and will now serve a total of 26months in prison. At the same court in March 2017, Xue was sentenced to 15-months imprisonment for fraud and trademark offences, with half to be served on licence. Judge Jeremy Donne QC also recommended that Xue be deported back to China at the end of his sentence. Our local CID took over the drug investigation and a prosecution against a separate individual is pending. Southwark Trading Standards officers are continuing to investigate five other members of the OCG in respect of trademark and moneylaundering offences. *i2 is a programme that allows users to chart information and present intelligence in an easy-to-understand format. It is used by many enforcement agencies and is considered an essential tool in complex cases. Credits Justin Miller is a team leader at Southwark Trading Standards and is an accredited financial investigator. Images: iStock/Dimitris66 To share this page, in the toolbar click on You might also like Operation Henry 2 September 2016