Approximately £8,000 worth of suspected counterfeit cigarettes and tobacco have been seized from two shots in East Renfrewshire with the help of two tobacco detection dogs.

There 4,400 illegal cigarettes and 6.5kg of hand rolling tobacco as part of the haul, which saw Rosie and Boo from Consumer Protection Dogs UK help East Renfrewshire Council Trading Standards and Police Scotland find the illicit items when they visited premises across the area as part of Operation CeCe.

Operation CeCe (Scotland) was set up in 2021 in a bid to tackle the retail sale of illegal tobacco products.

Illegal cigarettes and tobacco pose significant risk to public health and safety as they are unregulated and often contain higher levels of harmful chemicals than those that are legal sold.

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Rosie, a Springer Spaniel, and Boo, a German Wirehaird Pointer Labrador, are both trained to specifically find nicotine produce and they assisted officers to make the recoveries during search which wouldn’t have been visible during a routine inspection.

Councillor Danny Devlin, Convener for Environment and Housing said: “This is a great example of partnership working between the Council, Police Scotland and Consumer Protection Dogs UK. The trade in illegal tobacco harms local communities and affects honest businesses operating within the law.

“Trading Standards and Police Scotland’s work is playing a significant role in disrupting this unlawful trade and is helping to take illegitimate tobacco products off of our local streets.”

Community Sergeant Eddie White, Police Scotland added: “Police Scotland recognise the risks posed to members of the community from the trade in illegal tobacco and will continue to work alongside East Renfrewshire Trading Standards in our efforts to keep people safe and healthy within their local community.”

Residents are urged to look out for unusual packaging that does not contain typical health warnings, spelling mistakes, discoloured packaging, or modified logos.