ILLEGAL tobacco has been seized from a house in Blackburn by officers investigating tax dodging.

Cash and two cars, one of which was a BMW Five Series, were also seized during the raids by HM Revenue and Customs.

HMRC would not reveal the location of the operation, which it announced last night but took place last Wednesday.

It was focused on Blackburn, but similar raids took place on businesses across Greater Manchester, with more than 37kg of illegal tobacco and almost 23,000 cigarettes on which no duty had been paid.

Officers said the seized goods were worth more than £13,000 in unpaid excise duty and VAT.

HMRC said many of the businesses had tried to disguise their illicit sales by hiding them inside packaged duvets and behind shelves that were displaying pet food.

Graham Forbes, HMRC’s head of detection for the North West, said: “This operation was designed to not only tackle the problem of illicit tobacco sales in these areas but to send out a message to business owners in the region that HMRC will pursue those who ignore the rules on the sale and supply of duty free tobacco goods.”