Although no illicit tobacco was recovered on this occasion, the council will continue to mount regular visits to premises under Operation CECE, a UK-wide operation between Trading Standards and HMRC tackling their sale at retail level.
Common examples of illegal tobacco are counterfeits of well-known brands, cheap genuine tobacco smuggled into the UK with no duty paid, and ‘cheap whites’ which are mass produced in one country and smuggled into another.
An East Lothian Council spokesperson said: “All cigarettes and hand rolling tobacco sold in the UK should be in standardised packaging with written and pictorial health warnings. All text should be in English.
“Illegal tobacco is often produced in unhygienic conditions and has been found to contain substances including animal faeces and arsenic.
“We encourage people not to buy illicit tobacco products whose sale funds Serious and Organised Crime.
“Trading Standards can report criminal offences to the Procurator Fiscal for prosecution. Where a tobacco product is found not to comply, Trading Standards can refer this evidence to HMRC to consider applying a civil penalty for the first breach with a maximum sanction of £10,000.
“The sale of illegal tobacco and cigarettes can be reported to our Trading Standards team by emailing tradingstandards@eastlothian.gov.uk”