Monday July 14th 2025
Cigarrettes in an ashtray. Photo by Daniel Plemott
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Liam Eunson
The Midlothian Councils Trading Standards team aided by Police Scotland and Consumer Protection Dogs UK seized 3,620 illegal cigarettes and 800g of tobocco from a shop in Dalkeith.
Premises being used as a front to sell illegal tobacco is becoming more prominent in both Midlothian and the wider country.
This haul follows the same Dalkeith store having around 10,000 illegal cigarettes seized in two visits last year with reports suggesting illegal activities are taking place on the premises.
Council and government initiatives are cracking down on the sale of illegal tobacco products due to the un-regulated products posing a greater health risk due to containing higher levels of harmful and unknown chemicals than legal cigarettes. Alongside this, they can also be a greater fire hazard as they are unlikely to be treated to the same standard in production as legal cigaretes. These counterfeit products can be spotted due to both their cheaper price and lack of legal health warnings, with some packaging not being in English.
Midlothian Council’s Trading Standards is part of Operation CeCe Scotland, a nationwide partnership between Scottish Councils and the HMRC together with Police, aiming to tackle the retail sale of illegal tobacco.
With the recent seizure in Dalkeith being aided by Consumer Protection Dogs UK, these detector dogs are being used throughout the country as part of Operation CeCe Scotland. The dogs are trained to find nicotine products that are hidden and not visible during a routine inspection.
In the case of the seizure in Dalkeith, the illegal tobacco products were found after dismantling cupboards in the back area of the store that had a magnetic operation, with the trained dogs being the main reason the raid was successful.
Midlothian Council leader, Councillor Kelly Parry, explained, “I welcomed this seizure of illegal tobacco products. Our partnership working with Police Scotland and HMRC is vital work and is helping to take illegitimate tobacco products off our streets and thereby protecting local communities and honest businesses.”
“This seizure sends a clear message that this type of activity will not be tolerated.”
Trading Standards has not named the store or stated any further legal action other than suggesting that ‘the business could now face heavy fines from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)’.
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