Illegal cigarette trade targeted amid warnings of links to terror groups

Sheffield, Rotherham and Doncaster councils have joined forces in the initiative focusing on shopkeepers and street dealers selling tobacco for as little as £3.50 a packet.

A survey in the three areas found as many as a quarter of smokers have used illicit tobacco in the last 12 months.

More than half of people in Sheffield said they began smoking before the age of 16. Children with less cash are believed to be among the key targets for illegal sales.

Shoppers in Tudor Square in Sheffield city centre were yesterday shown a live reconstruction of filthy living conditions where illegally trafficked people including children are forced to make fake cigarettes.

Jeremy Wight, director of public health in Sheffield, said fake cigarettes were “extremely harmful”.

He said: “Smoking is well known to cause a number of serious health problems and all cigarettes contain over 4,000 toxins, but fake cigarettes can also contain animal excrement and floor sweepings. Children are buying and smoking these cigarettes and the proceeds go to fund terror groups abroad and organised drug dealing gangs here in Yorkshire. People need to consider that when they smoke, their money is being used to support terrorist organisations abroad and destroying families and childhoods here in the UK.”