RAID seizing thousands of cigarettes and hundreds of litres of alcohol took place in Newport this week.

The operation, involving police, customs, immigration and tradingstandards, aimed to disrupt the sale and supply of what is suspected to be illegal tobacco and alcohol led to products being taken from 14 retail premises in Newport City Centre on Monday.

The raid uncovered 35,000 cigarettes, six kilos of hand-rolling tobacco and 400 litres of alcohol along with £12,700 duty and VAT-evaded cash.

Around 54 officers from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) along with Gwent Police, Home Office Immigration, Trading Standards and detection dogs, visited 42 retailers in the city throughout the course of the morning. The suspected illegal products were seized from 14 of the premises.

The visits took place as part of HMRC’s Tobacco Taskforce activity, a strategy to tackle tobacco smuggling in order to address the source, supply and demand for illicit tobacco products across the UK.

Colin Spinks, HMRC assistant director of criminal investigations said: “Disrupting criminal trade is at the heart of our strategy to clampdown on the illicit tobacco market, which costs the UK around £2 billion a year, and the sale of illicit alcohol which costs the UK around £1 billion per year. This is theft from the taxpayer and undermines legitimate traders.

Due to the ongoing investigations no retailers can be named and any of the premises which were raided yesterday have not been revealed. In a statement released by HMRC they confirmed that no arrests have been made.

HMRC is encouraging anyone with information about the illegal sale of tobacco or alcohol to contact the Customs Hotline on 0800 59 500.