Shops in Exeter with ‘long histories’ of repeatedly selling illegal tobacco have been ordered to shut for three months.
Trading Standards and the police recently investigated Quick Stop, at 143B Fore Street, and European Shop, 124–125 Sidwell Street, both in Exeter, amid ‘strong links to organised crime’.
District Judge Smith, sitting at Exeter Magistrates’ Court, recently slapped each shop with a three-month closure.
The court heard how the Quick Stop shop used electromagnetic secret doors and a hydraulic ram-operated ceiling compartment to hide their stashes.
A Devon County Council (DCC) spokesman said: “At the most recent visit, tobacco products were discovered in two vehicles linked to the store and the contraband and vehicles were seized with help from HMRC and Devon and Cornwall Police.”
He added: “Just this year illegal goods valued at over £9,000 have been seized from Quick Stop.”
And a man was spotted fleeing from a makeshift hut at the rear of the store when authorities last visited the European Shop, and officers found bags of illegal tobacco in the hut.
The DCC spokesman said: “Trading standards believe that ‘orders’ for illegal tobacco were made in the shop then passed to the occupant of the hut using two-way radios.
“The tobacco was then passed through a hole into the shop. This year products worth over £4,000 have been seized from the European Shop.”
Th county council said both shops ‘have long histories of selling illegal tobacco, despite numerous warnings and enforcement visits’.
The closures follow previous shop shutdowns in Honiton, Exmouth, Plymouth, Exeter and Torquay.
Alex Fry, Heart of the South West Trading Standards operations manager, said: “Trading Standards will continue to work with the police to stamp out the illegal tobacco trade.
“These are not victimless crimes. Not only does the availability of cheap products make it easier for children to start smoking, our intelligence suggests that these shops have links to organised crime groups.”
