Oxford Street raiders take more than £100K worth of illegal goods
By Jacob Phillips, Local Democracy Reporter
Met and council officers have seized £107,000 worth of vapes, fake Apple products and shisha from a US-themed Oxford Street candy shop.
More than 6,500 disposable vapes with excessive nicotine and 145 cosmetic products without labelling were also seized in the raid yesterday.
Nine Oxford Street candy stores were shut down in 2022 following a council crackdown on “dirty money”.
A third of candy shops in Oxford Street were closed and £250,000 in business rates were claimed back by Westminster city council.
Trading standards officers seized thousands of items – including from a store that cannot be named for legal reasons.
The council had been tipped off about the store after customers complained about being overcharged for items.
Officers were surprised by the size of the haul, which included powerful vapes containing many times the legal limit of “puffs”.
There were 6,575 vapes confiscated, along with 481 nicotine pouches, 91 counterfeit Apple products, 75 power banks without safety labelling and 136 shisha products without health warnings.
The council also carried out a smaller raid on January 10, and it has confiscated £120,000 worth of fake goods so far in 2023.
Westminster City council leader, Adam Hug, said: “The rash of mixed sweet and souvenir shops which sprung up on Oxford Street during lockdown has dragged the tone of this area down as well as in some cases opening flouting trading standards laws and fleeing customers
“However, we are now seeing consistent and determined action by Westminster city council getting results. In two raids alone this month, we have seized £120,000 worth of goods we suspect to be either illegal or counterfeit.
“Westminster city council will keep the pressure up and ensure there is no Happy New Year for unscrupulous traders.
“We will also keep on urging ministers to ensure HMRC and the National Crime Agency have the resources they need to fight to wider suspected illegality around some of these venues.”
Pictured top: Items seized from candy stores (Picture: Jacob Phillips)
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