A TOWN centre shop in Wellington which was closed down after a raid by police, HMRC, and trading standards officers had a hidden compartment below its floor in which more than £5,000 of illegal cigarettes and tobacco was discovered.

The illicit haul was found by sniffer dog Griff, which led officers to ‘a sophisticated hydraulic floor concealment’.

Griff, whose official title is a ‘tobacco detection dog’, sniffed out the hidden compartment when deployed to Danya Store, in High Street, on Tuesday, June 9.

Danya Store had been subject to a number of previous enforcement visits by trading standards, police, and HMRC following reports of illegal tobacco sales and the sale of vapes to children.

Last December, one such visit resulted in the seizure of illegal tobacco from a vehicle linked to the shop.

The vehicle was also seized by HMRC officers and subsequently scrapped.

Several test purchases of illegal tobacco took place to confirm the products were being sold from the shop.

Following the June 9 raid, the shop was served with an immediate 48-hour closure notice to prevent trading from the premises.

Then, on Thursday, June 11, Taunton Deane magistrates granted a three-month closure order on the store.

Nobody attended the court hearing to oppose the closure, and the magistrates said even if they had, the closure would have still been deemed necessary to prevent further criminal activity in relation to the sale of tobacco and vapes.

Heart of the South West Trading Standards operations manager Alex Fry said: “Combatting the supply of illegal tobacco and vapes is a high priority for us.

“They are often sold at cheaper prices and the sellers are unlikely to care who they sell them to, making them accessible to children.

“By stopping the sale of these products we help protect our communities and businesses that trade legally.”