An undercover investigation in Brighton and Hove has exposed a thriving black market for illicit tobacco inside vape shops and convenience stores across the city.
Over a two-day stint, test purchasers bought illicit cigarettes and illegal vapes from 40 different stores.
The operation was carried out by Philip Morris and attended by Convenience Store on the second day.
All 14 stores visited by Convenience Store sold illicit cigarettes. Most striking was the complete lack of hesitation from shop staff, who openly sold the illegal goods.
Illicit cigarettes were sold for between £4 and £8, instead of the average UK price of about £18.
Vape shops lined floor to ceiling with bright e-liquid displays proved to be the most frequent suppliers of illicit cigarettes.
One of the most brazen examples was a vape shop just minutes from the constituency office of business secretary Peter Kyle MP. The shop worker took the order and left the premises to fetch the goods, returning minutes later with the £8 pack.
The following day, the test purchaser repeated the buy, and again the shop worker left the premises. This time, however, he was seen entering a side door next to the shop and emerging moments later with the illegal cigarettes.
In another vape shop, the shop worker took an order and immediately made a call on his mobile phone. Within minutes, a man entered the shop and handed over a counterfeit pack, which the shop worker sold for £6. On the second day, the same routine was repeated, but the courier was seen arriving from - and returning to - a nearby parked vehicle.
The cheapest pack of illicit whites was bought for £5. Illicit white brands comprised Oris, Oscar, Top Gun, Platinum, and a new slim brand not previously seen by test purchasers, called RGD.
Contraband Turkish cigarettes were widely available and accounted for a third of the purchases, most sold for £8. Contraband Albanian cigarettes were sold for £8.00, while a single contraband pack from Kuwait was bought for £8.00.
Counterfeit cigarettes were sold from £4. All three vapes purchased were disposable devices. The largest vape boasted a puff size of 15,000 and a tank size listed of 24ml, 12 times the legal 2ml limit. It was sold for £15.
The operation targeting Brighton and Hove’s illicit tobacco trade was led by Will O’Reilly, an external consultant for Philip Morris and former Metropolitan Police.
O’Reilly and his team of ex-police officers conduct covert test purchases in convenience stores and vape shops across the UK to assess the availability of illicit tobacco. The findings are passed on to local Trading Standards and HMRC.
The team’s efforts have led to “large seizures and closure orders”, said O’Reilly.
The last time they carried out spot checks in Brighton and Hove was in 2024. This time, the team observed a “sharp rise in new shops popping up across the city, with many appearing to operate primarily to sell illicit cigarettes”, O’Reilly said.
The team purchased far more illicit cigarettes compared to their previous visit, said O’Reilly, adding that shop workers appeared “less guarded” to sell.
“What’s useful on this occasion is we’ve found two shops where the actual hiding place or stash is kept elsewhere. We’re able to share that intelligence with law enforcement for further action,” said O’Reilly.
He added: “What we’ve noticed over the years is a shift from contraband to counterfeit cigarettes. Before Covid, contraband made up a good percentage of the illicit market, with products brought in from Poland and other Eastern European countries.
“When pandemic travel restrictions disrupted those supply routes, organised crime groups saw the void and filled it. They started to produce poorly made counterfeits, and those now make up the majority of the illicit market.”
Counterfeit cigarettes have even been found to contain “human faeces and rat droppings”, claimed O’Reilly.
Brighton & Hove City Council has seized almost 25,000 vapes, 7,000 packs of cigarettes and 74kg of hand rolling tobacco in the last two years.
Speaking to Convenience Store, councillor David McGregor, chair of licensing at Brighton & Hove City Council, said: “As a council we are hopeful the progression of the Tobacco and Vape Bill through Parliament will introduce a licensing scheme for both tobacco products and vapes, which will make our enforcement easier.
“Our Trading Standards team works hard to tackle the issue of illicit tobacco and illegal vaping products being sold by local businesses. Regular inspections take place and we work alongside Sussex Police and other partner organisations to carry out raids where we have evidence of illegal behaviour.
“We receive a lot of intelligence and we prioritise enforcement based on risk and harm - that could be underage sales, anti-social behaviour, other criminality or the sheer volume of complaints.”
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