TENS of thousands of people in East Lancashire are smoking illegal cigarettes, according to an investigation.

The probe, on behalf of a legitimate cigarette firm, also revealed that half of the area’s shopkeepers knew of rogue tobacco traders.

A former top cop at Scotland Yard, who investigated the situation in Blackburn, said that counterfeit cigarettes were freely available.

And he said the ‘easy’ sales of illegal tobacco taking place in the back streets of the town are funding organised crime.

Local trading standards teams revealed the area has a particular problem because of the use of unregulated shisha and other specialist Asian tobacco.

There is also a problem with illegal cigarettes being sold in back alleys, car parks and shops, former Met Police detective Will O’Reilly said.

County Council figures suggest an estimated 50,000 people in Lancashire smoke illegal cigarettes.

A special crackdown has now been launched. An Illicit Tobacco Team made of experts from the Trading Standard North West alliance of local authorities has made ‘significant recent seizures’ in Blackburn.

Chris Allen, head of Trading Standards at Blackburn with Darwen Council, said there was a significant issue in Blackburn.

He said: “With these extra resources we have been able to give this particular problem more emphasis, leading to significant seizures in the last couple of months on counterfeit and incorrectly marked products.”

Officers said duty is not paid on 99 per cent of shisha and that most of it doesn’t carry the correct health warnings.

There are concerns that the fakes often contains foreign bodies such as rat droppings and sawdust. And that profits are being used to fund large-scale organised crime including terrorism.

Mr O’Reilly said: “My investigations showed how easily available counterfeit tobacco is in alleyways, the backs of cars and streets in Blackburn. People need to be aware that the some people bringing this into the country also traffic hard drugs, firearms and deal in terrorism. The money goes to fund other organised criminal activity which ruins people’s lives.

“The message to the community is that the money paid for cheap cigarettes is actually costing them in other ways.”

Mr O’Reilly said his undercover test purchasing operations have shown half of hand-rolling tobacco sold in the country is illegal and he also warned of the health effects of unregulated products.

In the North West 46 per cent of local shopkeepers were aware of people who sold illegal cigarettes, he said.

They said they were ‘deeply concerned’ about the effect on their business.

The poll, commissioned by tobacco firm Philip Morris International also revealed that 90 per cent wanted stricter penalties for those caught dealing in illegal tobacco products, four out of five think more resources are needed to enforcement the law, and half believe minors are getting easy access to illegal cigarettes.

Its findings will now be passed on to the government and local law enforcement agencies to try and help tackle the issue.

Solly Khonat, Blackburn newsagent and president of the National Federation of retail Newsagents, said: “The link to organised crime gangs is very worrying. I speak with colleagues who are threatened with violence if they don’t stock the gangs’ counterfeit brands.

“You always know when there are illegal cigarettes being sold because you’ll notice a big drop off in the sale of certain brands. It happens all the time in pubs, car parks, and back alleyways.

“These people don’t care how and where they make their money. But it has a major effect on us retailers.”