Vape shops raided in Swansea flooded by black market

Investigations editor Conor Gogarty joined trading standards officers as they conducted raids on premises in Swansea suspected of selling black market cigarettes and vapes

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THE man registered as the owner of the Bob Marley vape shop has been in prison since July after being caught with £100,000 worth of black market cigarettes and vapes.

But the store in Swansea stayed open and trading standards officers returned last week to raid it again, finding bags stuffed with illicit’ products and shutting down the premises.

It was part of a Swansea Council operation throughout the week to crack down on vape shops suspected of targeting children with dangerous goods. Trading standards, police officers and immigration officers visited 14 businesses and issued closure orders against nine of them, as well as making ten arrests. Drugs were seized from multiple shops, or from “stash” vehicles linked to them.

The Post joined the raid of Bob Marley Vapes and a few other stores in St Helen's Road - a street where our undercover reporter was recently sold illegal items at all but one of the six vape shops.

We begin our ride-along at a briefing where dozens of council and police officers squeeze into a Guildhall office as the lead trading standards officer Rhys Harries explains the objectives. He starts with an update on the previous day of the operation - two men have just been taken into custody after coming into the council HQ asking for the keys to a shop that had been shut down for illegal trading. “We didn’t know who the owners were until they turned up,’ says Mr Harries.

The registered owner of the Bob Marley shop, 23-year-old Peshawa Zada, was recently jailed for a year and 10 months, but since then the council has made test purchases and gathered intelligence that criminal activity is ongoing.

“With a lot of these shops, you put someone inside and the shop continues to operate,’ says Mr Harries.