'Much worse going on behind the scenes' of illegal vape shops says Central Beds Trading Standards

An underground cellar and a secretly installed lift have been found in shop premises during searches involving the council’s trading standards department.

Staff face tackling serious criminals, rather than Del Boy-type characters, with activity stretching beyond illegal vapes, according to Central Bedfordshire Council’s assistant director public protection and transport Sue Childerhouse.

Border Force officials sometimes work with Central Bedfordshire Council’s enforcement team and use sniffer dogs for property searches, she said.

Liberal Democrat Leighton Linslade South councillor Chris Leaman asked her to talk about “some of the knock-on effects of illegal vape shops, and the wider aspects of criminality involved in some of these operations”.

Ms Childerhouse replied: “Many (premises) are linked to organised criminal gangs, as it’s a cheaper way of making money and the penalties they get are much lower than if they were drug dealing.

“It’s just a cheap way into money laundering and it funds all types of criminality. One of those we targeted recently elsewhere was linked to an Iranian organised crime gang.

“You can see what’s happening in Iran at present. Where’s the money coming from? You also get modern day slavery. Some of the people working in the shops aren’t there voluntarily.

“We carry out checks and we’ve got people that are here illegally, so we provide information to Border Force colleagues. They sometimes come with us into some of these shops and do immigration checks on the people employed there.

“It’s not ‘some knock-off fags or dodgy vapes’ you referenced. They’re fronts for organised crime gangs, and there’s much worse going on behind the scenes.”

Councillor Leaman, who chairs the committee, said: “One you closed earlier in the year had installed a secret lift system, with structural changes to the building while they occupied it.”

Ms Childerhouse explained: “We quite often take the sniffer dogs with us when we visit, as they won’t give up on those concealed areas.

“A sniffer dog won’t move from a certain place, such as a wall or a floor. The officers or police go round investigating. In that case, we found an underground cellar which started about four shops down.

“There was one where there was a worktop on some cabinets and it was all false. When you pressed a button, it just literally lifted up and all the illegal cigarettes and vapes came out of the floor.

“They’re sophisticated and don’t want to get caught. Walking in there, we’d probably have no way of knowing ourselves where they were. They’re concealed in false walls.

“They use vehicles, which aren’t necessarily parked nearby, in which they hide such items. These aren’t your Del Boy down the market selling a few dodgy goods. They’re serious criminals.”

Councillor Leaman wondered how “some new secondary legislation from government” would help the team.

“When we get a closure order for premises, the maximum is for three months,” she added.

“The government has announced this will be extended to 12 months. We got one (premises) owner to evict the tenants, and it’s this pressure that needs to be applied because they’re potentially benefiting from organised crime by getting that rent.”