91Èȱ¬

More than 125 thousand illicit cigarettes were seized during raids on shops in Northampton last Friday by Trading Standards officers.

The cigarettes are suspected to have been smuggled in from abroad, avoiding tax and then sold on the cheap in convenience stores.

Legitimate shops are seeing their business harmed by the trade, which is illegal and highly lucrative.

91Èȱ¬ Radio Northampton reporter Tom Percival accompanied Northamptonshire Trading Standards on the raids.

Stuart talks to Carol Gamble, Community Safety Manager at Northamptonshire Trading Standards, to Northampton North MP Michael Ellis, who sits on the 91Èȱ¬ Affairs Select Committee which monitors the laws around tobacco, and to Northamptonshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Adam Simmonds.

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