Crackdown on shops selling illegal vapes and fake Apple electronics

A rainbow of vapes and Apple-branded products light up the window of a south London shop as a small army of police prepare to march through the door.

- Lauren Almeida

Officers have been watching the shop for months and have already carried out tests in independent labs on products bought there. Most have come back with a high risk rate for possible electrocution and fires.

Many of the products are illegal after a law passed in June banned the sale of single-use vapes to combat both environmental damage and their widespread use by children.

The shop is one of six electrical goods outlets, all within a short distance of each other in Lambeth, being targeted by a team of about 80 people from the Metropolitan police, HM Revenue and Customs, the local authority and Trading Standards.

The raids are part of Operation Machinize 2, a nationwide crackdown on high street crime, targeting cash-intensive businesses in the so-called grey economy that police believe are linked to money laundering.

The National Crime Agency, the body responsible for fighting serious and organised crime, helped plan the raids of more than 2,700 premises, leading to 924 arrests.

Police seized more than £10.7m of suspected illegal proceeds, 111,000 illegal vapes, 70kg of cannabis and 4.5m illegal cigarettes.