Vapes, cigarettes and tobacco were all seized during joint raids between Southend City Council's Trading Standards officers and Essex Police.
Further raids on shops in Southchurch Road, Southend found over 900 disposable vape pens, worth £5,500. The vapes advertised 900 puffs, when any nicotine inhaling products complying with UK regulations can only have a maximum of 750 puffs, as this limits the nicotine strength and the size of the tank within the pen.
Southend-on-Sea City Council’s Trading Standards team will continue to use all powers at their disposal to remove such products permanently from offending shops and will bring formal action against the business owners wherever possible.
Cllr Martin Terry, cabinet member for public protection, said: “The ongoing investigating work being done by our Trading Standards team, means we are getting good results from the joint raids with the support of Essex Police.
“Once again thousands of pounds worth of illegal and harmful smoking products are off the streets of Southend and away from the unsuspecting public.”
All the seized disposable vapes, the illegal cigarettes and tobacco will be destroyed in an environmentally friendly process.
Photos of the items seized can be found on our Flickr site.