Sniffer dogs help search storage facilities in Highgate

Sniffer dogs joined council officers and police in a covert operation to seek out illegal goods in self storage facilities.

Last month Haringey Trading Standards' officers took part in a London wide project aimed at discouraging criminals from using legitimate self storage facilities to store illegal goods.

With HMRC officers they visited two self storage centres accompanied by specialist "sniffer dogs" that are trained to detect tobacco.

The search was for illicit and counterfeit tobacco products which escape UK duty or don't carry required health warnings. Counterfeit tobacco has also by-passed quality control and may be contaminated. It is often packed to look like legitimate brands, in breach of Trade Mark legislation.

Cllr Nilgun Canver, Cabinet Member for the Environment, said: "Using the sniffer dogs made the job much easier. During the operation the sniffer dogs screened many self storage units without opening them, making the whole process much faster and accurate."

On this occasion the dogs did not find any illegal tobacco but the excercise re-assured facility owners that they were not being used to store and distribute illegal cigarettes.