From: Southwark Council
A new campaign to highlight the dangers of illegal tobacco has been launched this week by the South East London Illegal Tobacco Network.
“Keep it out” is a local campaign led by six London boroughs (Southwark Council, Lambeth, Lewisham, the Royal Borough of Greenwich, Bromley and Bexley). South East London now has a page on the website www.keep-it-out.co.uk which gives information, local stories about illegal tobacco and an opportunity for the public to report illegal activity anonymously.
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Over the past three years, the South East London Illegal Tobacco Network has been working together to address illegal tobacco through both enforcement and education. The group has been involved in several high profile operations with HMRC that have led to arrests, prosecutions and the seizure substantial amounts of tobacco, cash and other assets. It has also introduced the routine use of specialist sniffer dogs to find hidden tobacco during enforcement work.
Illegal tobacco is a billion pound trade in the UK with HMRC estimating that around one in ten cigarettes smoked in the UK is smuggled or counterfeit. A recent survey commissioned by the network found that four in ten smokers had bought illegal tobacco in the last year. This implies that in excess of 114 million illegal cigarettes, with a street value of over £22 million, are being sold each year across the six SE London boroughs.
The dangers of illegal tobacco
Health and illegal tobacco
- Illegal tobacco removes age restrictions and price pressure and has significant implications for the health and wellbeing of residents. Although smoking rates for the UK, England and London are falling, they remain stubbornly high in our more deprived communities in SE London and result in significant health inequalities
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“While availability is declining nationally, illegal tobacco undermines local efforts to reduce smoking rates and prevent young people from starting smoking. We welcome this joined up approach to tobacco control that the SE London group are spearheading and have been working closely with them to identify any lessons that can be shared more widely.” [Emphasis added]
