Full scale of Plymouth’s illegal tobacco trade revealed after £12,000 seizures

TRADING Standards officers have seized over £12,000 of illegal tobacco and cigarettes from Plymouth streets in the past 12 months.And an official from Trading Standards said the sale of smuggled and counterfeit tobacco in Plymouth is a “bigger problem than first anticipated”.The warning comes as HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) figures reveal the level of criminals smuggling illegal tobacco into the UK are on the rise. The number of tobacco arrests and prosecutions have increased over the past three years, HMRC have revealed.