Nitrous oxide cylinders and canisters, counterfeit cigarettes and illicit tobacco worth £33,932 were seized during a recent targeted operation.
Tower Hamlets Trading Standards Team, sniffer dogs and Tower Hamlets Enforcement Officers (THEOs) carried out checks at shops in the borough selling the products. It is illegal to sell nitrous oxide for its psychoactive effects.
The two days of action saw the seizure of 40 large nitrous oxide cylinders, 3,456 nitrous oxide canisters, 1,320 counterfeit cigarettes, 17,846 illicit cigarettes, 3,960 grams of illicit hand rolling tobacco, and 8,817 grams of illicit banned smokeless tobacco.
Trading Standards has also recently seized 640 e-vapes that are over the nicotine safety limit, including counterfeit and potentially dangerous e-vapes liquids.
Councillor Kabir Hussain, lead member for environment and climate, said:
“Nitrous oxide can have serious health consequences, including paralysis. This seizure is a great result and hopefully reinforces the message that those selling the substance in Tower Hamlets will be prosecuted.
“Illegal and illicit tobacco is often sold cheaply and without health warnings, encouraging children to take up the habit, making it harder for people to quit and easier for ex-smokers to relapse.
“The sale of all these substances can also be funding criminal gangs in the borough.
“Our Trading Standards teams will continue to work with partners to tackle those selling these products and who are putting the health of our communities at risk.”
Posted on Wednesday 9th November 2022