TENS of thousands of pounds’ worth of illegal cigarettes have been seized by trading standards.

A raid using sniffer dogs on a grocers in Shirley lead to about £10,000 worth of illegal cigarettes being found stashed away in hidden compartments.

One stash of cigarettes was discovered in a purpose-built shop counter, made with a false front and compartment to store the illegally imported and counterfeit goods. 

A second haull was found in a kitchen cabinet, which required a screw to be loosened, allowing the cabinet to be lifted up granting access to a secret storage compartment in the back.

Southampton City Council trading standards, HMRC and trained sniffer dogs swooped on the shop on Friday at aroundbout 9.30am, thanks to a tip off from a member of the public.

Trading Standards officers have been touring in Hampshire, displaying counterfeit and illegal smoking goods while encouraging members of the public to come forwards with any information they may have on illegal tobacco. 

It was when the touring display was held in Shirley that officers received the vital information.

Lucas Marshall, a trading standards officer at Southampton City Council, said: “We had information about a shop which was targeted and using the dogs we found the containment straight away.

“It is the first time we have used sniffer dogs and it is becoming increasingly clear how useful they are.

“It is difficult to stop illegal tobacco, but we work with HMRC and the police and use their experience and pool our resources.”

Counterfeiters of cigarettes are becoming increasingly sophisticated in how they duplicate genuine packets of cigarettes to illegally import and sell.

However, sometimes they do slip up as shown by one packet of Mayfair seized in different raid, which spelt “smoking” as “smkoing”.

But sniffer dogs that are being used to track down the illegal goods do not make such mistakes.

Stuart Phillips, a search dog specialist who accompanied Trading Standards on the Shirley raid, said his sniffer dogspooches found the illegal haul in less than 10ten minutes.

For more information about illegal tobacco visit www.stop-illegal-tobacco.co.uk/share-info-anonymously or call 0300 999 6999.