Across London there is an issue with some shops selling illegal cigarettes and it's no different in Barking and Dagenham. To try and tackle this is problem our Trading Standards Officers carry out regular operations where they test purchase shops to gain intelligence and then raid businesses known to be selling illegal cigarettes.
The selling of illegal cigarettes is often linked to organised crime and gangs and studies show that over half of underage smokers say that illegal tobacco played a huge part of getting them addicted.
We joined them on their Operation CeCe raid last month where they seized 15,580 illegal cigarettes and tobacco worth roughly £6,000 - have a watch here!