Police from Bury St Edmunds teamed up with HM Revenue and Customs in an operation to crackdown on illicit items that find their way into shops.

As part of national licencing week, the operation saw officers encounter illegal vapes being sold in Bury St Edmunds, some specifically designed to attract children. Officers visited six shops in the town.

Disposable vapes containing 2000, 3500, 4000, 9000 and 10,000 puffs were seized with over 500 disposable vapes in total removed from the shelves.

Currently you must be 18+ to purchase a vape in the UK. It is a criminal offence to sell vapes containing nicotine to anyone under the age of 18. E-cigarette tanks must have a capacity of no more than 2ml and the maximum volume of nicotine-containing e-liquid for sale in one refill container must not exceed 10ml. This effectively limits any disposable vape for sale in the UK to a maximum of 600 puffs.

Meanwhile, over 200 bottles of alcohol were also seized during the operation.

One male was arrested for an offence under the Immigration Act and taken into custody. The matter has been handed over to the Immigration Service, who will deal with the male with the potential to issue a civil penalty to the employer.

Employers can be penalised if they employ someone who does not have the right to work and they did not do the correct checks, or you did not do them properly. If this happens, they might get a ‘referral notice’ and they may have to pay a civil penalty (fine) of up to £20,000 for each illegal worker.

Sgt Dan Peck from Bury St Edmunds police said: “This was a very productive operation as illicit tobacco and alcohol contributes to harm within the local community and often goes hand in hand with anti-social behaviour and other like offences. I’d like to pass on my thanks to all the others agencies involved – a great bit of partnership working as part of our ongoing effort to keep residents safe from illegal products.”