More than 3,500 cigarettes and illegal tobacco was seized after police and watchdogs raided a Norfolk store after a tip-off from a member of the public.

Eastern Daily Press: Cigarettes and illegal tobacco was seized in a joint operation between Norfolk Trading Standards and Norfolk Constabulary. Pic: Norfolk Trading Standards.Cigarettes and illegal tobacco was seized in a joint operation between Norfolk Trading Standards and Norfolk Constabulary. Pic: Norfolk Trading Standards. (Image: Norfolk Trading Standards)

Norfolk Trading Standards and South Norfolk Police seized the products from a store in Diss on Monday.

They tweeted a picture of their haul and said 3,540 cigarettes and six pouches of illegal tobacco had been recovered.

The products are suspected to be counterfeit as they were incorrectly labelled and the matter is now under investigation.

South Norfolk Police tweeted that the safer neighbourhood team had carried out the raid after receiving a report from a member of the public.

People can report illegal tobacco sales to trading standards on 0345 040506 or to the police on 101.

Earlier this year, trading standards bosses revealed how more than 1.2 million illegal cigarettes had been seized in Norfolk over the previous 12 months.

The scale of the problem is of 'great concern', according to bosses at Norfolk County Council's Trading Standards service, who say the tobacco can contain rat poison, asbestos and mould spores, while helping fund organised criminal gangs.

Norfolk Trading Standards has seized illegal cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco from shops, including in Norwich, King's Lynn and Great Yarmouth.

On the scale of the problem, a spokesman for Trading Standards said at the time: "Illegal tobacco continues to be an area of great concern; not only in terms of the associated, additional. health risks, but also due to the potential for extending illegal sales of tobacco products to under 18s.

"Illegal tobacco is being sold by unscrupulous businesses from under the counter in most cases. It follows that this makes it more accessible to young people as it is more affordable.

"In addition to counterfeit tobacco, there is an increasing amount of illegally imported tobacco which bears only foreign or no health labelling.

"Not only is this tobacco being sold without UK duty being paid, but the mandatory health risks labelling on the packaging is missing.

"Young people having ready access to illegal tobacco poses a significant problem in Norfolk, particularly in Great Yarmouth."