Over half a million pounds worth of illegal tobacco seized in East Sussex
Trading Standards has been cracking down on the sale of illicit products
Over half a million pounds worth of illegal tobacco's been seized in East Sussex within the past year and a half.
The Trading Standards Team's been cracking down on illicit products, including with special detective dogs, to combat organised crime across the county.
It comes with a message to be cautious of purchasing cheap products, which could contain products aside from what they say on the label.
"We've had quite some amazing results when we've sent off illicit tobacco to public analysts - including rat poison and other harmful chemicals," explained Andrew Clooney, who's Trading Standards' Team Manager.
"So if you're buying it really cheap, you can assume that you're getting really cheap ingredients as a result, and they've not gone through the same quality assurance processes as a legitimate product would do."
Consumers urged to check label of products
Seizures within the same time frame also uncovered around £70,000 worth of banned disposable vapes, with retailers hiding products in places such as magnetic enclosures and even drainage systems.
Andrew advised to check the label on products to uncover whether they're legitimate.
"What consumers should look out for is first of all that if they're purchasing tobacco, all the instructions, anything on the tobacco must be in English.
"There should usually be embossed UK duty paid on it and it should have the health warnings.
"Any tobacco product at the moment will have almost all of the casing or the packaging will have a pictorial warning on it, and that should be throughout the packaging itself."
He's urging anyone with concerns over products to report it to Consumer Direct, so Trading Standards can follow up if there's been an offence.