A Liverpool shop selling counterfeit cigarettes and illegal disposable vapes is shut down by magistrates following an operation by the city council. Tony McDonough reports

Magistrates have ordered a shop selling counterfeit cigarettes and illegal disposable vapes in Liverpool to be shut down for three months.

In a case brought by Liverpool City Council’s alcohol and tobacco unit, Wirral magistrates were told Broadway Mini Market at 6 Broadway in Norris Green had been engaged in “criminal behaviour” for the past two years.

It was being used to sell counterfeit and illegal tobacco and vaping products causing a “serious nuisance to members of the public”.

Despite visits from the council officials and the seizure of goods, the store had continued with their offences. They even resorted to hiding counterfeit cigarettes inside speakers in the shop and concealing illicit stock inside a wall.

The action was brought under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, and a 12-week closure order was granted by the court at a hearing on Thursday, October 12.

In July LBN reported the council had launched a crackdown on such activities. More than 1,800 illegal vapes with a street value of £22,000 were seized in an operation  across Liverpool.

Since April 2022, Liverpool City Council has seized more than 36,000 illegal vapes with a street value of £432,000. It added a large number of prosecutions for under-age sales are pending.

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Cllr Harry Doyle, Cabinet Member for Public Health, said: “This sends out a strong message to retailers that we won’t tolerate the sale of counterfeit and illegal tobacco and vaping products.

|As well as seizing goods, we are prepared to go to court to shut premises down if they persist with their illegal behaviour.

“We would urge anyone who knows of a store that is selling these type of products to contact us so that we can investigate.”