Officers from Lincolnshire Trading Standards and Lincolnshire Police discovered the stash of illicit goods in shop in Boston, Lincolnshire.
Officers from the police’s Licensing Team accompanied Trading Standards on a visit to a retail premises on Horncastle Road in the town following suspicions about the sale of illicit cigarettes and alcohol.
During the visit an elaborate hide was found containing over 5,000 illegal cigarettes.
In shocking footage captured by Trading Standards, an officer shows how a remote control is used to lower a ceiling light above a stairway to reveal shelves packed with counterfeit and unsafe cigarettes.
The goods were seized, and the matter is now under investigation.
Andy Wright, Principal Trading Standards Officer with Lincolnshire Trading Standards, said:
“I’ve now been working to combat illegal cigarette sales in Lincolnshire for 12 years. Hides, or concealments, are becoming more and more elaborate as retailers attempt to hide illegal cigarettes from Trading Standards and the police.
“Suspending the weight of the metal box in the ceiling must have been quite an undertaking. The shop concerned had only just opened, and raised our suspicions because it was so tiny, it would be inadequate as a viable retail business and could only be profitable as a source of illegal goods. Clearly they had invested some time and money in a venture they thought would prove profitable for a long time.”
Over the years, Andy and his Lincolnshire Trading Standards colleagues have uncovered many different, sly methods that criminal use to hide their illicit goods.
“There is a sense of professional achievement in finding a particularly clever concealment, as well as hides in light fittings, I’ve seen many hidden within floors and behind walls, including pictures which are opened by magnetic locks revealing a cavity behind.”
Elsewhere in Lincolnshire, the team previously found a hide in Spalding where the criminals had lined a large storeroom entirely with false walls, creating a room within a room. Between the false walls and the original walls there was a 4-inch gap packed with thousands of illegal cigarettes.
It is the safety of the public that is the primary concern for Trading Standards. Legal cigarettes in the UK are required to self-extinguish if they are left unattended, in order to lower the risk of accidental house fires. Counterfeit and non-UK cigarettes – like the ones found in the ceiling hide in Boston – do not have this safety feature.
Sgt Ian Cotton from the Lincolnshire Police Licensing Team said:
“This shows how valuable partnership working is. These people go to great lengths to cover up what is a lucrative illicit business. Law abiding shop owners are at a significant disadvantage because of this criminality and we will continue to work with our partners to stop it.”
Help us stub out illicit tobacco in Lincolnshire. If you know anything about illegal tobacco products being sold in our area, let us know; you can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or report online at crimestoppers-uk.org.