‘Success is shutting them down’: Met police in fight against illegal vape and phone shops | London

Rainbow-coloured e-cigarettes and Apple-branded products light up the window of a south London store as a small army of police prepares to burst through the door.

Officers have been monitoring the store for months and conducting tests on products purchased there at independent laboratories. Many returned with possible risk of electrocution and fire.

Many of the products are illegal after a law passed in June banned the sale of disposable e-cigarettes designed to combat environmental damage and their widespread use by children.

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

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

The National Crime Agency, the agency responsible for tackling serious and organized crime, helped plan raids on more than 2,700 premises, leading to the arrest of 924 people.

Police seized more than £10.7 million of suspected illicit proceeds, 111,000 illegal e-cigarettes, 70kg of cannabis and 4.5 million illicit cigarettes.

The walls of the south London store appear to be covered in Apple products; But the trademark agent and police officers quickly notice that the serial numbers on each box, which are supposed to be separate for each product, are exactly the same. It is obvious that the products are fake.

Inspector Oliver Lamb, who has been with the force for more than 12 years, is leading the operation in Lambeth.

“This isn’t the first time we’ve been to some of these stores; this is the third time we’ve been to some of them this year,” says Lamb. Police have raided stores in the past, only to later find managers restocking shelves with the same products after they left.

“We initially thought that removing stock would be an important enough message to retailers to explain to them that you can’t do this, why you can’t do that, and that you’re going to lose out soon.

“When we arrive [here] Earlier this year we seized £18,200 worth of Apple products alone, and that doesn’t include e-cigarettes, which are probably equal in volume. So it didn’t bother them; “I thought it would prevent it, but it didn’t.”

Companies House documents show the small store was linked to more than one company; one of which is now defunct under the current owner’s name.

As the police go through their stock, at various points they argue with Apple’s trademark representative, who accompanies the police, protesting that the products are genuine. Yet police are filling evidence bags with Apple-branded AirPods, chargers and cables, as well as disposable vape bags, all of which appear to be fake.

Police said the stores were often used to hide other illegal shops in secret rooms, so authorities searched hidden compartments under the counters. No rooms were found, but officers seized £3,000 worth of cash from the safe.

Although the NCA has made it clear that it is a serious problem nationally, not all electrical stores in this corner of South London are illegitimate.

Reactions from area residents have been mixed; During the raid, a passerby recorded the raid on his phone while the crowd shouted at the police presence: “What the hell are you pigs doing here? Don’t you have anything better to do?”

Others appear calm: A woman eats lunch at a side stall while police question another business owner in the complex. Many customers continue to come into the store to purchase products from the business, including electronic cigarettes.

But Lamb insists the stores’ existence is a source of public frustration, as well as a risk to public health. At the end of the raid, police spoke to witnesses at a nearby large department store; Eyewitnesses said they saw this store regularly selling disposable electronic cigarettes to children.

“[Counterfeit goods] It is the source of public disappointment. They buy the product, find it’s fake, and then they have no consumer rights,” says Lamb. “We have chargers, watches, fake Apple products and AirPods, as well as fake e-cigarettes; This is quite worrying as we have no idea what people are breathing in from these.

“Success is shutting down these businesses and making way for legitimate ones.”

Officers say Machize 2 is the largest operation of its kind focusing on the underground economy. An estimated £2.7 million worth of illegal goods were destroyed as a result of the raids and more than 450 businesses reported to Companies House for further investigation.

“Depriving criminals of their source of income has a real impact, limiting the amount of funds they can reinvest to commit further crimes and deterring them from occupying spaces on our high street that could be used by legitimate businesses,” says Rachael Herbert, director of the NCA’s national economic crime centre.