Cigarettes ‘missing 25% of tobacco’ found in Dundee

By FRANK URQUHART
Published on 21/02/2013 11:46

ILLEGAL tobacco gangs have been accused of cheating on their customers by filling their fake packets with up to 25 per cent less tobacco.

The double dealing of the “dodgy distributors of tobacco” has been exposed by trading standards officers in Dundee.

A spokesman for Dundee City Council said: “A number of seizures in the past month have found that not only is the product potentially dangerous but the dealers are also cheating on quantities. The packaging is doctored to look like ‘Duty Free’ product as a way of explaining the low cost, but what is being sold is an inferior substance with no relationship to the legitimate manufacturer.”

Craig Melville, convener of Dundee City Council’s environment committee said: “After our officers made the seizures they checked the weight of what was being sold.They found that the traders in this illicit tobacco, which sells for between £5 and £7 a 50 gramme pouch, are cheating customers by under filling them by around 25 per cent.

“When they’re overcharging by as much as £1.75 per pack, this double dealing is obviously increasing their profits.”

He added: “Because this sort of business is done in the shadows it is very difficult to tell how widespread it is. But it is prevalent enough that last summer the Tobacco Retailers Alliance (TRA) said that one in 11 corner shops in Scotland was under threat because of it and local newsagents were also expressing their concerns. ”