Operation Henry

Operation Henry In this feature illegal tobacco national crackdown trading standards first Dog teams were used over eight search days Sniffing out the dangers A crackdown seizes more than 2.5m illegal cigarettes in a first for trading standards in England. Joe Blamey outlines the operation T obacco smuggling is still big business in the UK. It is estimated to have cost the UK Treasury 1.6bn in lost tax revenue in 2012-13. And, it is feared the widespread availability of illicit tobacco products* will undermine efforts to reduce the prevalence of smoking by making it more affordable and accessible. In a rst for TSI and the countrys trading standards services a crackdown was staged in England last year to beat the bootleggers. Developed and managed by TSI on behalf of the Department of Health (DH), it resulted in 2,594,858 cigarettes with a value of 614,488 being seized. The highest seizure rate Operation Henry took place between May and came in the North East of November 2014, and involved 81 local authority England, where 94 per trading standards services. They carried out cent of premises searched had intelligence-led investigations with specialist tobaccoillegal tobacco products detection dogs, and 67 seizures took place across the country. The average seizure rate of illegal tobacco products across England was 56 per cent, with the highest seizure rate in the North East, where 94 per cent of premises searched were found to have illegal tobacco products. Eight days of searches with dog teams, supplied by Wagtail UK Ltd, The dogs found concealed tobacco products in walls, under floorboards and inside furniture TOBACCO DETECTION Collin Singer, managing director of Wagtail UK, explains how tobacco-detection dogs play a vital role alongside trading standards officers in tackling illegal tobacco. Tap to listen were made available for each region. They were funded by the DH and managed by TSI. The dogs quickly and effectively found concealed tobacco products in walls, under oorboards and inside furniture. The largest single seizure was at a self-storage facility in London, where 1.4m illegal cigarettes were found. In some instances, trading standards services combined intelligence with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), using their mapping data, and carried out joint searches with HMRC ofcers. It is thought that, in 2012-13, no duty was paid on nine per cent of cigarettes and 36 per cent of all rolling tobacco smoked in the UK. There are fears that the widespread availability of illegal tobacco products will undermine efforts to reduce the prevalence of smoking by making it more affordable and accessible. TSI chief executive Leon Livermore said: This cooperative work taken against illegal tobacco is a brilliant demonstration of how trading standards services and our partners work behind the scenes to protect the public. Worryingly, we can see from the spread and the sheer number of seizures that illegal tobacco is widely available throughout England. Operation Henry shows what can be achieved if funding is provided and trading standards ofcers are given the resources they need to carry out this incredibly important work. However, I fear that because of the ever-increasing trading standards budget cuts which we know are up to 80 per cent in some cases suppliers of illegal tobacco products may have the upper hand, unless more can be done to protect trading standards budgets. *The term illegal cigarettes covers illicit (non-duty paid) and counterfeit cigarettes. Credits Published You might also like Joe Blamey is assistant communications Tuesday 27 January, 2015 Academic research: Changing habits, ofcer at TSI. page 26 of TS Review, February 2015 To share this page, click on in the toolbar