Illegal/Counterfeit Tobacco/Cigarettes Seizures and Prosecutions
Case reference FOI2025/01222
Received 24 June 2025
Published 3 July 2025
Request
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I am writing to request information regarding the seizure of illegal/counterfeit tobacco and cigarettes within the jurisdiction of Herefordshire Council and subsequent prosecutions initiated by the trading standards officers.
Specifically, I request the following information for each of the past five years, starting from January 1, 2019:
1. Seizure Data:
* The total quantity of illegal/counterfeit tobacco (e.g., number of cigarettes, kilograms of hand-rolling tobacco, or other relevant measures) seized by trading standards officers each year.
* The total number of instances (i.e., separate occasions) of such seizures each year.
2. Prosecutions:
* The number of prosecutions launched by trading standards against sellers of illegal/counterfeit tobacco and cigarettes each year.
* The number of successful prosecutions each year.
* The number of unsuccessful prosecutions each year.
If possible, please provide the data in a structured format (e.g., spreadsheet or table) and clarify any definitions used for "cases" or "illegal tobacco products" (e.g., counterfeit, smuggled, or non-compliant products). If certain data is unavailable or incomplete, please provide what is available and note any limitations.
Response
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I am writing to request information regarding the seizure of illegal/counterfeit tobacco and cigarettes within the jurisdiction of Herefordshire Council and subsequent prosecutions initiated by the trading standards officers.
Specifically, I request the following information for each of the past five years, starting from January 1, 2019:
1. Seizure Data:
* The total quantity of illegal/counterfeit tobacco (e.g., number of cigarettes, kilograms of hand-rolling tobacco, or other relevant measures) seized by trading standards officers each year.
* The total number of instances (i.e., separate occasions) of such seizures each year.
2. Prosecutions:
* The number of prosecutions launched by trading standards against sellers of illegal/counterfeit tobacco and cigarettes each year.
* The number of successful prosecutions each year.
* The number of unsuccessful prosecutions each year.
If possible, please provide the data in a structured format (e.g., spreadsheet or table) and clarify any definitions used for "cases" or "illegal tobacco products" (e.g., counterfeit, smuggled, or non-compliant products). If certain data is unavailable or incomplete, please provide what is available and note any limitations.
Answer: Please see the table below for questions 1 and 2:
|
|
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
|
Total cigarettes |
372,400 |
10,060 |
130,460 |
63,860 |
26,447 |
215,460 |
|
Total hand-rolling tobacco (kg) |
63.2 |
4.4 |
31.8 |
6 |
9.4 |
48.85 |
|
Number of seizures |
4 |
1 |
7 |
5 |
3 |
1 |
|
Total prosecutions |
4 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
|
Successful prosecutions |
4 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
|
Unsuccessful prosecutions |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Documents
This is Herefordshire Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
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