The FWD has warned that legitimate retailers are becoming “sitting ducks” for criminals targeting their tobacco stock.
Lyndsey Cambridge-Wilson, of Food and Drink Wholesale UK, said tobacco was fast becoming “criminal currency”, with retailers facing the double threat of theft and losing customers to dodgy traders.
She was talking at a Panel discussion on the illicit tobacco trade, hosted by The Times, The Sunday Times and JTI.
“Wholesalers have big tobacco rooms in their depots, heavily fortified, because they are very vulnerable to crime as well,” she said. “These are purchased by retailers who go into the warehouses and buy them, take them back to their own stores, or they are delivered. At every point in that process, they’re vulnerable and do get attacked and targeted for their haul.”
Read more: Opinion: Why wholesalers and retailers must play their part to help combat the illicit tobacco trade
Cambridge-Wilson said retailers faced a second hit once legitimate stock reached their stores. “They are reporting to us that they are selling less and less,” she said. “This is a problem not just for their sales of cigarettes and the impact of that down the legitimate supply chain, but it also impacts their footfall.
“Less people are going in to buy cigarettes, so the basket isn’t there either. They’re not picking up their milk, their bread, their additional items.”
She said frustration was growing despite retailers already reporting suspected illicit traders to MPs, councils and police. “They aren’t just sitting pretty in these shops thinking, ‘Oh, that extra vape shop’s turned up down the road or the barbershop’s turned up down the road,’” she said. “They are going to the authorities. They are reporting this.”
Cambridge-Wilson said the reporting process itself could be lengthy, with language barriers creating additional difficulties for some store owners. “What they really need is support from those in power, and they’re just not getting it.”
