After a tourist was charged £899 for two bags of sweets at a shop on Oxford Street in London, Westminster Council and the Metropolitan Police conducted a raid which led to the discovery of a camouflaged wall, an underground tunnel and the largest haul of suspected counterfeit goods ever seen on Oxford Street.
The suspected fake goods included American snacks, over 30,000 cigarettes, around 3,000 vapes, nicotine pouches, and power banks. Some of the cigarettes were "Marlboro" branded, and they did not adhere to UK advertising requirements.
This is the latest in a series of raids on similar "American Candy" stores on Oxford Street as the council tries to crack down on the sale of illegal goods. A raid in February 2024 seized over £55,000 worth of illegal items, including disposable vapes with twice the legal amount of nicotine and food items containing banned ingredients. Further action in October 2024 resulted in the seizure and destruction of further food items containing banned ingredients, such as colourings and e-numbers.
Counterfeit or unregulated products such as food, cigarettes and vapes can be extremely harmful to unwitting consumers, and you may not necessarily think that these dangerous items would be readily available on one of the most famous shopping streets in the UK. This story highlights that consumers should always exercise caution, not least to avoid being massively over-charged!
We have known for a long time that US candy stores rip off customers, but charging £900 for two packets of sweets is a new low, even for the unscrupulous people who run these rackets - Adam Hug, Labour leader of Westminster City Council.
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