The illicit cigarette trade costs the treasury £2.1bn a year – and it is happening right under our noses.

Wandsworth Times:

At corner shops, in car washes, and in transactions outside tube stations, people are buying and selling untaxed cigarettes smuggled into the country by organised criminal networks.

In the worst instances, counterfeit cigarettes are pumped full of anything from rat droppings, to human faeces.

Pounding the streets week in, week out, to help this trade come to an end is Will O’Reilly and his team.

A former officer in the Metropolitan Police, Mr O’Reilly has now turned his attention to spotting and rooting out those who sell counterfeit and contraband cigarettes.

The work takes the team around the country, scouting out towns and testing shops and pubs for the goods, before passing the information they’ve gleaned onto trading standards and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.

I joined them on the second of two days spent in Tooting. In just a few hours on day one, the team had noted a good number of suspect shops and were returning for the stock.

Our first stop was one of a well-known set of pub chains in Tooting Broadway. As we entered, Sam asks two men if they know Kevin, the tobacco man.

He was not in, but he was well-known. Apparently, many pubs in this chain will have a tobacco man, and if you can spot the regulars, you will find him.

Next on the tour of Tooting was Broadway market. We find a woman who touts tobacco pouches alongside DVDs from a trolley bag. £10 later and we have got two pouches, supposedly weighing 50g each, but they feel lighter than that.

Wandsworth Times:

Over the course of the morning, we visit lots of different shops through Tooting. In some, we are knocked back, but in many, a bit of confidence means we get our hands on cigarettes at almost half the price.

Two of Will’s team are Polish and Lithuanian, giving the edge on gaining confidence from shopkeepers. They tell me that many people will sell mainly to their own network, and wouldn’t usually trust newcomers.

With the lower rate of tax in Europe, and none paid when they are smuggled, a pack of Marlboro can go for £5 instead of an average £9.70.

Mr O’Reilly said: “I was a DCI in the Met Police for 32 years and I have been doing this since 2011. The consequences are important, £2.1bn a year is lost to the treasury, that is a massive amount.

“It is equivalent to £300 from every family to cover the shortfall. I saw it myself in my policing experience, this is organised crime behind the mass smuggling of products.”

Mr O’Reilly said that the repercussions of cigarette smuggling are much less than drug smuggling, and unlikely to warrant a term of imprisonment.

Though some may question the need for a high level of action, Will believes it is an important crime to fight.

He said: “You do not know what is in them. Tests have found high levels of arsenic, rat droppings, saw dust, even human faeces in some of these things.”

He said: “It is not a victimless crime, there are serious consequences. It affects legitimate retailers as well, they see footfall decrease. There is lots of profit to make in the UK out of the sale of these cigarettes.”

Wetherspoon spokesman Eddie Gershon said: “We take matters of illegal selling in our pubs very seriously. We are not aware of this situation.

"However, staff have now been alerted to it and will take action if anyone is spotted selling illegal cigarettes in the pub.”

Anyone who suspects the sale of illicit cigarettes should refer the information to Wandsworth trading standard or HMRC.