Thousands of suspected illegal items have been seized by trading standards officers in a raid on one of Oxford street’s biggest candy stores.
Officers gathered a haul of vapes with twice the legal amount of nicotine, fake designer mobile phone covers, and sweets banned in the UK due to their ingredients in the operation on Wednesday morning.
They had an estimated combined worth of £55,000.
Westminster Council has been stepping up the pressure on the candy stores that have sprung up the length of Oxford Street since the pandemic.
Leader Adam Hug said: “This significant haul from just one shop shows the scale of the problem we face.
“Suspected illegal goods continue to flood into the country and central London. As a council we do what we can making life difficult for unscrupulous traders through enforcement action and pressure on landlords.
"On the wider stage we are also campaigning for changes to company registration to make it harder for dirty money to circulate in London.
“We are dealing with people who are quite prepared to peddle excessively strong vapes and banned sweets to children.
"But more trading standards raids are on the way in the coming weeks, so anyone who thinks they can drag down the reputation of Oxford Street with this tawdry trade can think again.”