Police officers seized 500kg of smuggled tobacco from a New Malden business park.

The goods were wrapped in Golden Virginia packets and had an estimated £180,000 retail value.

They were discovered at a unit on the Kingspark Business Centre in Kingston Road on Wednesday afternoon after police were tipped off.

Your Local Guardian:

Tobacco found inside the unit 

Officers also found processing equipment and a heat sealing machine believed to have been used in the production of black market, hand-rolling tobacco goods.

 


 

No arrests have been made.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has taken over the investigation. Martin Brown, assistant director of criminal investigation at HMRC, said: “We believe this was a major plot to flood the UK with unregulated and fake tobacco.

“This illegal trade has a devastating impact on local communities, honest retailers having to compete with this underworld trade and taxpayers whose money should be going to fund the UK economy lining the pockets of criminals.

“We will not stop in our work to stamp out this form of crime and encourage anyone with information regarding tobacco smuggling to contact the Customs Hotline on 0800 59 5000.”

Got a story? Call the newsdesk on 020 8 722 6321 or email newsdesk@surreycomet.co.uk.