Illegal tobacco and cigarettes worth more than £250,000 have been seized during a raid at a storage facility in Kettering, Northamptonshire, thanks to “community intelligence”.
Officers from Kettering Neighbourhood Policing Team (NPT) and North Northamptonshire Council’s Trading Standards raided a self-storage unit on 8 August after reports of a large amount of illicit tobacco being kept in a storage container.
The team uncovered 16,254 packs of cigarettes and 708 packets of hand rolling tobacco worth £258,000.
PC James Batten, from Kettering NPT, said: “This great result was made possible thanks to community intelligence – people telling us what they know, see or hear. When we receive reports like this, we work with the relevant partners to build up a picture of potentially illegal activity and take action against it.
“Illegal tobacco products may well be fake, and carry increased health risks, as well as often being linked to organised crime. I’d like to thank everyone who shared information with us – as this joint agency work shows, we will act on what you tell us to protect our communities and prevent and detect crime.”
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