𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Staggering stories seen by the Daily Express revealed how one man working in the illicit trade was locked in a room from dawn to dusk with no toilet.

Another was discovered on a mattress in a hidden room, taking orders through a microphone and passing cigarettes through a hole in the wall – while being paid just £20 a day.

Trading Standards officers stumbled on both cases while investigating illegal tobacco, following a sniffer dog through a hole cut into a wall.

Now fresh analysis suggests these are far from isolated incidents.

One MP suggests, by applying the referral rate from one Trading Standards service to the national volume of illegal cigarettes seized last year, as many as 370 potential victims could be hidden across the trade.

The figure is based on Calderdale Trading Standards data showing four trafficking referrals were made for every 375,520 illegal cigarettes removed from sale between 2018 and 2021.

Applying that same rate to the 35 million illegal cigarettes seized nationwide in 2025/26 produces the estimate of 370 hidden victims.

Major raids have already uncovered the scale of the problem. One operation saw officers visit 265 shops last March, seizing 200,000 cigarettes and saving 97 people from potential modern slavery.

A second phase in October covered 2,734 premises, recovering 4.5 million illegal cigarettes, with the National Crime Agency again raising alarms over slavery.

Yet critics say the frontline service meant to catch these cases has been gutted, with almost half of all Trading Standards staff lost over the past decade, leaving a gap of more than 2,000 posts.

Shadow Policing Minister Matt Vickers said: “This is a shocking reminder that the illicit tobacco trade is not a victimless crime.

“Behind the illegal cigarettes and lost tax revenue can be organised criminal gangs exploiting vulnerable people and trapping them in modern slavery.

“The Government must investigate this further now.

“The Government cannot afford to treat this as simply a problem of counterfeit cigarettes and unpaid duty.

“We need properly resourced Trading Standards teams, stronger intelligence-sharing and a relentless focus on the criminal gangs profiting from both the illicit tobacco trade and the exploitation of human beings.”

The Government was approached for comment.