Oxford St raid: Officers seize thousands of counterfeit and dangerous items from two retailers

Trading standards officers seized £58k worth of vapes and unsafe toys from two Oxford Street retailers.

Westminster City Council officers seized more than 4,000 items that were thought to be counterfeit or possibly dangerous to the public.

Items seized in the 26 April raid included vaping devices containing excessive levels of nicotine and which had not been authorised by UK regulators. Some 2023 vapes were found, in addition to 123 counterfeit vapes and 336 snus packets with no safety information.

Officers also discovered 539 toys with no warnings or safety labelling, in addition to dozens of counterfeit T-shirts and Apple Ipods. 

Some 1170 counterfeit mobile phone covers were also seized.

“This raid revealed a shocking amount of illegal, counterfeit, and potentially dangerous products,” Raj Mistry, executive director of environment and city management at Westminster City Council, said.

He added: “Oxford Street is a world leading shopping destination and we want to ensure that shoppers who visit the area are able to buy safe and genuine products.”