Retailers have been warned not to give in to the temptation of buying illicit booze after a series of raids led to seizures of counterfeit spirits laced with dangerous chemicals. Police discovered bottles of fake vodka laced with chloroform in Essex, following on from a haul of 130,000 litres of fake vodka containing antifreeze that was seized by officers after a raid in Manchester…

Retailers have been warned not to give into the temptation of buying illicit booze after police discovered a distribution centre for counterfeit alcohol. HMRC officers teamed up with Nottinghamshire Police to raid an industrial unit where they discovered 310,000 litres of alcohol that had no duty paid. The haul is said to be enough to fill 15 lorries and the 295,000 litres of beer and…

Trade bodies in Scotland will unite to urge the authorities to crack down on duty fraud at a Parliamentary Reception in January. The Scottish Grocers’ Federation, Scottish Wholesale Association and Scottish Anti-Illicit Trade Group will argue that tackling the estimated billions of pounds lost through counterfeiting “should be a New Year’s Resolution”. Inspector Alan Dron, chair of the Scottish Anti Illicit Trade Group, said: “Criminals…

Illicit wine sales could be as much as 11% of the market and may have lost HM Revenue & Customs as much as £700 million, a new report has revealed. It is the first time HMRC has estimated the wine tax gap and trade bodies have welcomed the figures, saying they could help fight fraud and boost sales for legitimate retailers. Overall the alcohol tax…

Tobacco manufacturers are fighting EU plans which would ban menthol and slimline cigarettes, all packs of 10 and limit sales of rolling tobacco to 40g pouches. Opponents of the proposals say they will also impose restrictions on the size and shape of cigarette packs and bigger health warnings. The plans for rolling tobacco would have significant impact in the UK, where 77% of sales are…

An online petition is urging the Government to toughen up the penalties available to the authorities when prosecuting producers, smugglers and suppliers of illicit tobacco. It also asks the Government to tackle the discrepancies between the punishments for drugs smuggling and tobacco smuggling offences and bring the penalties for illicit tobacco crime in line with those for drugs offences. The petition needs to generate 100,000…

Bargain Booze has ended a franchise agreement with a retailer found guilty of selling an illicit brand of vodka. Pardeep Singh Punnia, who ran the store in Church Street, Tamworth, Staffordshire, pleaded guilty to nine offences at Cannock Magistrates’ Court. He was ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work, hand over his alcohol licence indefinitely and pay £3,376 in costs. Staffordshire County Council…