Thousands of illegal cigarettes and vapes have been seized in raids of Glasgow shops.

Trading Standards teams collaborated with cops to inspect four shops in the city on Wednesday.

During the operation, which was assisted by sniffer dog Boo, the teams found over 20,000 illicit cigarettes and 1000 illegal vapes.

Almost 7kg of tobacco was also seized.

Boo the sniffer dog helped our Trading Standards officers seize over 20,000 illicit cigarettes, approx 1000 illegal vapes and almost 7kg of tobacco from 4 shops today."

 

As we previously exclusively reported, Boo is the only tobacco-trained detection dog in Glasgow.

Her handler, who preferred not to be named due to safety concerns, told the Glasgow Times about how a typical inspection takes place.

He said: “We start off normally behind a counter where there will be a small quantity of product held for quick and easy transaction.

“If we can establish that there is illicit product behind the counter then we will get the dog to sniff the rest of the shop – basements, lofts and anything else that is around. 

“We will cast Boo through the shop where her nose will be in the air until she picks up the tobacco scent and then she will source it and put her nose right on it and wait for her tennis ball to be flung as her treat.”