POLICE and other officials joined together to launch a day of targeted activity in Hyndburn.

Officers from the Hyndburn Policing Team and partners from Trading Standards, the DVLA and Hyndburn Council, including the dog warden, said they were tackling issues which had been raised by residents as their top priorities.

Trading standards carried out a warrant on a shop and barber in Accrington town centre, seizing around 200 boxes of counterfeit cigarettes worth an estimated £1,600.

Some of the items were hidden behind bricks in the walls, stashed behind fire exit signs and a large quantity of cash was hidden within a secret till compartment.

Counterfeit tobacco is often mixed and rolled on surfaces where little care is taken in the contents of the cigarette, and other chemicals are at risk of seriously harming the health of those who smoke them.

Sold at up to £5 a pack, this organised crime type often funds larger scale operations including money laundering, drug dealing, human trafficking and violent crime.

Alongside neighbourhood and tactical officers in Baxenden, the DVLA performed stop checks on waste carriers and other vehicles to ensure they carried the right licences and load bearings, following fly-tipping concerns from the locals.

Nine vehicles were stopped, with three seized and six drivers given paperwork to make vehicle improvements.

Finally, trading standards also supported police on advising elderly and vulnerable residents on how not to fall victim to rogue traders and scammers.

Inspector for Hyndburn Rick Ogdin said: “We’re really grateful to our partners joining us for a targeted day of action tackling the issues that mean most to our residents.

“While we have showcased some of the ways we tackle anti-social behaviour, vehicle and organised crime, we will continue to target those who flout the law and make others’ lives hell.

“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the community too for their support.”

If you do have any concerns, please report it online at www.lancashire.police.uk, or if a crime is happening now it’s 999.