Constabulary intensifies action on the sale of illegal tobacco products

Operation’s Machinize and Ascertain have been running across October targeting the sale of illegal cigarettes and tobacco products in Cheshire, as well as the safeguarding of vulnerable and exploited people in our night-time economy spaces.

Over the course of October, officers from Cheshire Constabulary’s Foreign National Offender (FNO) and Protecting Vulnerable People (PVP) and localised Beat Management teams have been taking part in a number of proactive operations across the county.

As part of this, Cheshire officers have been supporting the National Crime Agency’s Operation Machinize initiative, a long-running operation specifically designed to target money laundering and the criminal use of cash-incentives in high street businesses.

With the support of partner colleagues from Immigration Enforcement, Trading Standards, HMRC and local authority representatives, officers conducted a total of 32 visits to commercial premises across Cheshire to ensure that retailers were selling genuine and legally purchased products.

This joint effort between Cheshire Constabulary and their community partners resulted in the seizing of approximately £80,000 illegal cigarette and vape products.

Colleagues from HMRC are now also pursuing the business owners identified who will be liable for large fines from both HMRC and Trading Standards and may face prosecution.

The operation also focused on the protection of vulnerable people, with PVP colleagues carrying out safeguarding enquiries at the premises to identify signs of modern-day slavery, as cash-heavy business environments historically pose a higher risk of these offences occurring.

Further Operation Machinize deployments are planned throughout November to continue disrupting organised criminality and protecting legitimate businesses from exploitation. 

Foreign National Offender Team were joined by Home Office Immigration colleagues as they conducted 10 deployments in town centres and night-economy settings over ten deployments across the county as part of Operation Ascertain.

The purpose of the operation was to complete immigration checks on delivery drivers, ensuring they were legally allowed to work in the UK and were not being exploited under modern slavery offences.

Officers were further supported by local authority CCTV operators, who monitored areas in real time, enabling the prevention of crime and rapid response to any emerging incidents.

The efforts of the teams resulted in 160 people and 161 vehicles being stopped by officers.

Other outcomes from the operation included:

• 23 traffic reports issued
• 15 vehicles seized (including cars and e‑bikes)
• Four illegal workers being identified
• One arrest was made and two people were summonsed to court

In line with the Constabulary’s ongoing priorities, officers working under Operation Ascertain also focused on tackling violence against women and girls.

Operation Ascertain deployments will continue into the new year.

Detective Inspector Lauren Henthorn, of the Force Intelligence Bureau said:

“We work hard to tackle criminals operating in our communities and Operation Machinize demonstrated just some of the work we do all year round to prevent organised criminals from operating in our communities.

“We have seen links to the sale of these illicit substances, immigration crime and modern slavery offences, which is why we are committed to doing all we can to identify those involved and stop them from exploiting vulnerable people.

"With that in mind, officers also conducted Operation Ascertain, which forms part of our ongoing efforts to crack down on those exploiting others for criminal gain and ensuring workers within the delivery service sector are correctly licensed and have a right to work.

“As our town centres become increasingly busy in the run up to the festive season, these deployments were also an opportunity to ensure that everyone making use of our night-time economy venues was doing so safely and responsibly.

“I also hope these results provide reassurance to residents county‑wide that officers are out in their communities and night‑time economy settings, working proactively with our colleagues to ensure everyone can enjoy themselves without fear of having their night disrupted or ruined by those who do not know how to behave.”

Detective Chief Inspector Danielle Knox, of the Force Intelligence Bureau, added:

“These operations highlight the work our officers and partner colleagues do every single day of the year to protect and safeguard vulnerable people in Cheshire.

“While these operations represent a snapshot of a month of deployments, this is very much business as usual for us, and we will always do everything we can to keep our residents, and vulnerable people, safe.”

Anyone with information relating to exploitation or who has concerns about someone’s safety, should contact Cheshire Constabulary on 101 or report online via the force website.

Information can also be provided anonymously through Crimestoppers on:

0800 555 111