UK enforcement seizes illegal tobacco, vapes in Northampton and Wallsend

West Northamptonshire Trading Standards, together with neighbourhood wardens, raided three shops in Northampton and Daventry, seizing 616 packets of illicit cigarettes, 26 pouches of hand‑rolling tobacco (about 1.3 kg), 26 illegal vapes and additional counterfeit products. The items were foreign‑labelled or ‘cheap white’ cigarettes without UK excise duty and vapes prohibited under the single‑use vape ban introduced in June 2025. Trading Standards warned that selling illegal tobacco can lead to penalties of up to £10,000, civil sanctions and possible prosecution.

In Wallsend, North Tyneside Council’s licensing committee revoked the alcohol licence of Malhotra Off Licence after a joint police and Trading Standards raid uncovered roughly £25,000 worth of illegal tobacco and £1,800 in cash. The raid also found that about £15,500 of duty had been avoided. The shop had been the subject of prior warnings dating back to 2018, and the licence revocation was supported by Northumbria Police, Trading Standards and the council’s director of public health.