Bury St Edmunds Police arrest man after illegal vapes and bottles of alcohol seized from shops in the town

A man was arrested after police seized illicit disposable vapes and over 200 bottles of alcohol from shops in Bury St Edmunds.

Officers visited six shops in the town where they found illegal vapes being sold, some specifically designed to attract children.

Disposable vapes containing 2000, 3500, 4000, 9000 and 10,000 puffs were seized with over 500 disposable vapes in total removed from the shelves.

E-cigarette tanks must have a capacity of no more than 2ml and the maximum volume of nicotine-containing e-liquid for sale in one refill container must not exceed 10ml. Therefore the limit any disposable vape for sale in the UK is a maximum of 600 puffs.

It is illegal to sell vapes containing nicotine to anyone under the age of 18.

Also, over 200 bottles of alcohol were also seized during the operation.

One man was arrested for an offence under the Immigration Act and taken into custody.

The matter has been handed over to the Immigration Service, who will deal with the man with the potential to issue a civil penalty to the employer.

Employers can be penalised if they employ someone who does not have the right to work and they did not do the correct checks.

If this happens, they may get a referral notice and they could pay a civil penalty (fine) of up to £20,000 for each illegal worker.

Sgt Dan Peck from Bury St Edmunds police said: “This was a very productive operation as illicit tobacco and alcohol contributes to harm within the local community and often goes hand in hand with anti-social behaviour and other like offences.

“I’d like to pass on my thanks to all the others agencies involved – a great bit of partnership working as part of our ongoing effort to keep residents safe from illegal products.”

The operation was part of national licencing week which saw police team up with HM Revenue and Customs.