RETAILERS in Bradford have been told they face a "zero-tolerance approach" if caught trading illegal tobacco products on the black market.

The warning by West Yorkshire Trading Standards (WYTS) comes after a city centre off-licence owner was prosecuted for hiding 22,000 illicit cigarettes in the ceiling of his shop.

David Lodge, head of WYTS, said it had been carrying out a crackdown on the problem over the last 12 months, working in partnership with council public health teams to drive down smoking rates, and using sniffer dogs to search premises.

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"Illegal cigarettes are a particular issue in West Yorkshire, and Bradford is as bad as anywhere," he said.

"When tobacco prices rise, the black market fills a gap, but we have to stop access to cheap and illegal tobacco.

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"We are operating a zero-tolerance approach, and working closely with police to share intelligence, not only with individual retailers, but higher up the supply chain."

Mr Lodge said more than 20 cases had progressed to court over the last 12 months, with further investigations pending.

"Retailers are now going to far greater lengths to conceal illegal goods, using things like false walls and hidden compartments, but we are increasingly using sniffer dogs to combat this," he said.

"Our team is dedicated to tackling the trade in illicit tobacco and we’re dealing with every complaint we receive.

"Young people are often targeted due to the low cost of these products, and smokers are encouraged to keep up the habit.

"Traders in illegal tobacco need to know that we will make no exceptions and there are no signs of us slowing down.

"If you get caught, you will be prosecuted, and we will keep coming back."

Sanger Osman, 33, pleaded guilty at Bradford and Keighley Magistrates' Court to possessing 22,000 illicit cigarettes and 650 grams of hand-rolling tobacco with an intent to supply at the Polandia Off-Licence in North Parade.

The goods were found by WYTS officers hidden within the void above a suspended ceiling during a search of the shop in July last year.

Osman, of Newark Street, Bowling, Bradford, pleaded guilty to 17 charges of supplying tobacco products that failed to comply with safety warnings, and three of selling goods with packaging likely to be mistaken for a registered trade mark.

He had pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to display a warning notice against the sale of cigarettes to people aged under 18 years of age at an earlier hearing.

He was sentenced to 48 hours of unpaid work in the community, ordered to pay £600 costs and a £60 victim surcharge.

After the case, Bradford Council deputy leader, Councillor Val Slater, who is chairman of the West Yorkshire Trading Standards Committee, said: "The illegal sale of tobacco in communities enables and encourages young children to buy it cheaply."