Millions of illegal vapes and tobacco products seized in new crackdown - as sales to minors soar

26 November 2024, 00:51

More than a million illegal vapes have been seized in the last year under a major new crackdown, data shows.

Over 1.19 million illegal vapes were seized across England during the 2023/2024 period in the crackdown, data from National Trading Standards (NTS) and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) shows.

This marks a dramatic 59% increase in the number of vapes removed from sale compared to the previous year, indicating toughened enforcement efforts and growing concern over the safety and legality of vaping products.

The seizures were part of Operation Joseph, a joint initiative designed to target the sale of illegal vaping products that fail to meet UK safety standards.

Many of the vapes confiscated during the operation were found to contain excessively high levels of nicotine, posing potential health risks to consumers.

The operation highlights the ongoing battle to keep unregulated products off the market, especially those that could endanger public health.

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One of the key concerns highlighted by the latest data is the growing trend of illegal vape sales to children.

In the fourth quarter of 2023-2024, nearly a quarter (24%) of the 775 test purchases carried out by Trading Standards in-person resulted in the illegal sale of vapes to under 18s.

This alarming statistic demonstrates the need for stronger enforcement to protect young people from accessing harmful products.

Meanwhile, Operation CeCe, a collaboration between NTS and HMRC launched in 2021, continued to disrupt the illicit tobacco trade.

In the past year, more than 19 million counterfeit cigarettes and over 5,100 kg of hand-rolling tobacco worth £11.7 million were seized. Since its start, the operation has confiscated 46 million illicit cigarettes and 12,600 kg of tobacco.

'Protection of communities'

Lord Michael Bichard, Chair of National Trading Standards, said: “The protection of communities, public health and the safeguarding of honest businesses who are struggling to compete with the flood of illegal products lies at the heart of what Trading Standards does."

“Trading Standards has seized nearly 1.2 million illegal vapes and more than £26 million worth of illicit tobacco so far.

But the reality is further action is necessary to remove more illegal – and in many cases dangerous – products from sale.

'Criminals don't care who they sell to'

Richard Las, Director, HMRC Fraud Investigation Service, said: “Illicit tobacco undermines legitimate retailers, funds wider crime, and harms public health while depriving our vital public services of around £2.2 billion a year.

“We will continue to work with partners like trading standards to tackle this organised criminal trade that harms our communities. 

"These criminals don’t care who they sell to including children.

“We urge anyone with information about the smuggling, distribution or sale of illicit tobacco to report it online.” 

'Illegal and harmful'

Minister for Public Health and Prevention Andrew Gwynne said: “This shows just how many illegal and harmful vapes are on our streets, putting consumers and children at risk.

"To further crack down on illicit trade of tobacco products and vapes, we are investing an extra £10 million to keep these harmful products out of the hands of kids. 

“The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will strengthen enforcement activity, allowing Trading Standards to take swifter action to enforce the law, including on non-compliant products, and closing loopholes.”

Kate Pike, Lead Officer for Tobacco and Vaping for the Chartered Trading Standards Institute said: “Trading Standards officers recognise that it is really important that adult smokers are able to switch to legal compliant vaping products which carry a fraction of the risk of their lethal tobacco habit.

"These figures show we are working incredibly hard to remove illegal vapes from our communities and to support businesses not to sell to children.

"We encourage anyone with information about businesses ignoring the law to report to us so we can continue to target our enforcement resources most effectively.”