ILLICIT cigarettes and tobacco worth more than quarter of a million pounds have been seized during two raids in Bradford.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) officers and a sniffer dog found 928,820 cigarettes and 153 kilograms of hand-rolling tobacco at a storage facility in Great Horton last Friday.
They also discovered about 2,000 cigarettes at a shop in Lidget Green earlier the same day.
A 30-year-old man from Bradford was arrested in connection with the seizures and interviewed by HMRC at Trafalgar House police station. He was bailed to June pending further enquiries.
Jo Tyler, assistant director, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said: "Disrupting criminal trade is at the heart of our strategy to clamp down on the illicit tobacco market, which costs the UK around £2.4 billion a year. This is theft from the taxpayer and undermines legitimate traders.
"We encourage anyone with information on the sale of illegal tobacco to contact our 24-hour hotline on 0800 59 5000."
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