HMRC officers, supported by police from Fife, Lothian and Borders and Strathclyde, used hand-held scanning technology that can identify genuine cigarette packaging by detecting “covert marketing invisible to the naked eye.” Packaging that failed to carry the markings were identified as counterfeit.
A spokesman for HMRC told Packaging News that the department was unable to divulge any further information on the packaging-marking technology, as it could potentially compromise future operations. “For security reasons, the exact nature of the mark is not being revealed,” the department said in a statement.
The raids saw the authorities swoop on three markets, 55 business premises and 34 homes, where they seized 91,952 illegal cigarettes and 28.6kg of tobacco.
Michael Connolly, HMRC’s assistant director of specialist investigations, said: “HMRC, along with our partner agencies, are tackling tobacco fraud at all points of the supply chain, from smuggling and storage through to sale, and we are now using new technology to quickly identify the illegal and counterfeit products.”
He added that that the lavish lifestyles of the gangs behind tobacco counterfeiting cost the British taxpayer £3bn a year in unpaid duty.
HMRC is working with members of the Serious Organised Crime Task Force and local people to combat counterfeiting.
Separately, the government has postponed the publication of its strategy on tobacco advertising to “allow further discussion between all partners, to ensure the strategy is as strong as possible”.
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