Derby City Council Shuts Down 5 Shops, Seizes Nearly £500,000 in Illegal Vaping Products

Derby City Council in the UK has shut down five shops, seized nearly £500,000 worth of illegal vaping products, and will deploy sniffer dogs to help locate more such products.

According to a breaking report by the Derby Telegraph on October 4, Derby City Council has closed five shops, seized nearly £500,000 worth of illegal vapes, and is preparing to use trained dogs to search for more similar products.

Reports say the seized vapes mainly came from city-center stores and from a Derby vehicle found in Nottingham, with a total value of £491,333. Among them, 32,000 illegal vapes worth £432,000 were found in the vehicle, while 4,395 illegal vapes worth £59,333 were seized from Derby shops. So far, five shops have been shut down, including one that was ordered to close under a court-issued compulsory closure order, and items have been seized from a total of 34 shops.

According to a new council report, three investigations into shops suspected of distributing illegal vaping products are still ongoing, and three warning letters have already been issued. Authorities have executed six search warrants and seized three batches of “non-compliant/counterfeit” vaping products. At the same time, £6,241 in cash suspected to be criminal proceeds has been confiscated, some cases also involved illegal tobacco, and 36 complaints have been received regarding the sale of vapes to minors.

At the council’s Health Scrutiny Board meeting on October 3, enforcement manager Donna Dowse (Donna Dowse) said dogs are currently being trained to help detect illegal vapes.