31/03/2017 Inside Out South East


31/03/2017

Similar Content

Browse content similar to 31/03/2017. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!

Transcript


LineFromTo

The London criminal gangs targeting the South East.

0:00:100:00:12

Police!

0:00:120:00:13

They say a fella just bombed up the alley,

0:00:130:00:19

but I went up there and I don't see anyone, mate.

0:00:190:00:22

The campaign to protect the Goodwin Sands.

0:00:220:00:23

Wrecks are being covered and uncovered all the time.

0:00:230:00:26

It is just disrespectful. If it was one of their relations,

0:00:260:00:28

they would probably feel the same way we do.

0:00:280:00:33

And fake fags on Facebook.

0:00:330:00:35

Well, the drop is on.

0:00:350:00:37

We have had a message on Facebook telling us to turn up at a leisure

0:00:370:00:41

park just outside Tunbridge Wells.

0:00:410:00:48

I am Natalie Graham, with untold stories closer to home,

0:00:480:00:50

from all round the South East. This is Inside Out.

0:00:500:01:00

Hello and welcome to the programme, which this week comes from

0:01:060:01:09

Tunbridge Wells.

0:01:090:01:12

The National Crime Agency say there is a growing problem

0:01:120:01:15

of criminal gangs from London turning their attention to nearby

0:01:150:01:18

counties like Kent and East Sussex, finding new markets for their drugs.

0:01:180:01:21

Rachel Royce reports.

0:01:210:01:31

For Kent Police, tackling gang crime has become a priorty.

0:01:350:01:40

Today, they have been called to a burglary they think

0:01:420:01:45

might be gang related.

0:01:450:01:53

They say a fella just bombed up the alley,

0:01:530:01:55

but I went up there and I don't see anyone, mate.

0:01:550:01:59

There has been so much gang activity in recent years that Kent Police set

0:01:590:02:03

up Operation Jupiter - a specialist team dedicated

0:02:030:02:05

to tackling London gang members who think there are easy pickings

0:02:050:02:07

to be had in kent.

0:02:070:02:09

A couple of days later, there is an Operation Jupiter briefing

0:02:090:02:11

at Medway Police Station.

0:02:110:02:15

We have been invited to Medway Police Station this morning.

0:02:150:02:17

Officers have intelligence about a gang that is operating

0:02:170:02:20

out of London and Kent.

0:02:200:02:21

The plan this morning is three simultaneous raids at two addresses

0:02:210:02:23

in London and one in Chatham.

0:02:230:02:25

The aim is to disrupt London gangs targeting our community

0:02:250:02:27

and setting up county lines.

0:02:270:02:29

The police are calling it county lines crime,

0:02:290:02:31

when London gang members set up a supply line to bring drugs

0:02:310:02:38

out to the counties.

0:02:380:02:40

Drugs have always been taken from large city hubs out

0:02:400:02:42

to county market places, but county lines

0:02:420:02:44

has really evolved though in the last four or five years,

0:02:440:02:47

using runners on behalf of urban street gangs, exploiting young

0:02:470:02:49

and vulnerable people to move drugs

0:02:490:02:50

and money between the market places and, most important, in terms

0:02:500:02:54

of what is different, using a mobile phone

0:02:540:02:57

as a branded marketing line and really high levels of quite

0:02:570:03:00

extreme violence and exploitation of young and vulnerable people.

0:03:000:03:06

Today, Kent Police are going after the root

0:03:080:03:10

of the problem, to the heart of London.

0:03:100:03:13

Operation Jupiter is taking place with the help of intelligence

0:03:130:03:15

from the Met Police.

0:03:150:03:18

The gangs mainly sell crack cocaine and heroin

0:03:180:03:20

and with that comes violence.

0:03:200:03:23

What we do see over months are scenarios where firearms

0:03:230:03:30

are threatened or discharged, knives are wielded, people are stabbed,

0:03:300:03:32

young people are being kidnapped and held against their will.

0:03:320:03:38

That is the sort of thing that happened to Fiona,

0:03:380:03:40

not her real name, when she was just 15.

0:03:400:03:43

She told us she was busking on the street in Tunbridge wells

0:03:430:03:46

when she was approached by a stranger.

0:03:460:03:49

I remember it like it was yesterday meeting the bloke

0:03:490:03:51

who did what he did to me.

0:03:520:03:57

I was sitting busking outside M in town.

0:03:570:04:04

After inviting her to his flat he would not let her leave,

0:04:040:04:07

holding against her will.

0:04:070:04:08

He injected her with heroin several times a day.

0:04:080:04:10

She became addicted and went on to sell drugs for a county line.

0:04:100:04:19

And who were your customers?

0:04:190:04:20

Who were you selling to in Tunbridge Wells?

0:04:200:04:22

Oh, everyone, just literally. Next to Chaybeate Spring,

0:04:220:04:26

In Kent, a high-speed chase by road police officers who have have been

0:04:260:04:30

seconded to Operation Jupiter for the day.

0:04:300:04:36

Their mission to stop and search suspected drug dealers

0:04:360:04:38

coming out from London.

0:04:380:04:42

They have their burn phones that they do all their dealing from.

0:04:420:04:45

That will be those just chucked in the glove compartment, just

0:04:450:04:48

there.

0:04:480:04:54

Kent Police say there are 350 gang members working

0:04:540:04:56

in North Kent right now.

0:04:560:04:58

But how do the gang members in London set up the contacts

0:04:580:05:00

for selling drugs in Kent?

0:05:010:05:02

Professor Erin Sanders McDonagh of Kent University has interviewed

0:05:020:05:04

over 100 young offenders and London gang members.

0:05:040:05:07

Most of them were involved in county lines,

0:05:070:05:17

So they might make over a house that is being squatted or they might

0:05:170:05:21

move in with someone who is taking drugs,

0:05:210:05:22

then take over that house.

0:05:230:05:24

That person might stay in the house or be removed

0:05:240:05:26

from the house, at some point.

0:05:260:05:28

Essentially once they are in, they take over that house

0:05:280:05:30

and start to run the line.

0:05:300:05:31

Taking over someone else s home to sell drugs is known

0:05:310:05:34

by the police as "cuckooing".

0:05:340:05:35

It happened here in Rusthall, on the outskirts of Tunbridge Wells,

0:05:350:05:38

in this boarded-up ground floor flat.

0:05:380:05:42

Behind us, we have got property

0:05:420:05:43

which was subject to cuckooing.

0:05:430:05:45

It was a London gang member that came down here.

0:05:450:05:48

They were a juvenile and they were taking over

0:05:480:05:50

the property and using it to distribute drugs to the

0:05:500:05:52

local community.

0:05:520:05:57

He was extremely violent

0:05:570:05:58

and tried to use a Samurai word against the officers.

0:05:580:06:00

Fiona was also the victim of cuckooing.

0:06:000:06:07

And they said, if you don t go, then we are going to kill

0:06:070:06:10

you or seriously damage you, so we moved in the middle of the night.

0:06:100:06:14

Packed up what we could carry and did a runner.

0:06:140:06:18

Back with Operation Jupiter, the raid has begun.

0:06:180:06:23

Hello, it s the police. Can you open the door, please?

0:06:230:06:26

We have got a search warrant.

0:06:290:06:35

That raid was not successful,

0:06:350:06:36

in that they did not find the man they were looking to arrest.

0:06:360:06:39

Just his mother, who was very angry and said he did not live there,

0:06:390:06:43

but he had, at one time, put that down as an address where he lived.

0:06:430:06:46

But why are the London gangs leaving their home turf, to come

0:06:460:06:49

to Kent and Sussex?

0:06:490:06:50

London was starting to become saturated for me.

0:06:500:06:52

What has happened is that young gang members hav

0:06:520:06:57

What has happened is that young gang members have

0:06:570:06:59

been entrepreneurial, in a criminal way,

0:06:590:07:01

and decided to take what they were doing in London

0:07:010:07:03

into a less densely-populated marketplace.

0:07:030:07:04

Who are these London gangs?

0:07:040:07:05

In London itself, there are many dozens.

0:07:050:07:07

Well over 100 urban street gangs.

0:07:070:07:09

They tend to be young, black men, very often teenagers into twenties.

0:07:090:07:19

Francis Osei-Appiah is a former member of

0:07:210:07:22

a notorious Tottenham gang.

0:07:220:07:25

He believes the main reason the London gangs are now coming out

0:07:250:07:28

to our region is they think they can avoid arrest.

0:07:280:07:33

The gang member thinks the police force don t know them,

0:07:330:07:36

so they can go under the radar and can tap into that market,

0:07:360:07:39

use their young people and start delivering drugs,

0:07:390:07:44

whereas in London, the Met Police are hot

0:07:440:07:46

on their heels and know what they up to.

0:07:460:07:51

Francis was jailed for nine years for his part in the kidnapping

0:07:510:07:53

and torture of two men.

0:07:530:07:56

I asked him how he got involved in the gang in the first place.

0:07:560:08:00

I was groomed with gifts and money and trainers and designer clothing

0:08:000:08:03

jewellery, until I became succeptible to the gang

0:08:030:08:05

and I joined it.

0:08:050:08:12

Frances had just finished his GCSEs when he was recruited.

0:08:120:08:15

The National Crime Agency reports that there is

0:08:150:08:17

widespread exploitation of children, who are enticed into gangs.

0:08:170:08:23

When we published our report in 2016, we cited the youngest age

0:08:230:08:26

for exploitation that we had encountered,

0:08:260:08:33

and that was cited twice by the police.

0:08:330:08:35

It wwas 12.

0:08:350:08:36

It was 12.

0:08:400:08:42

In Tunbridge Wells, the common has been the site

0:08:420:08:44

of arrests for drug dealing by London gang members.

0:08:440:08:47

We have had a few arrests here linked to the gang activity.

0:08:470:08:50

The youngest gang member arrested in Tunbridge Wells so far was

0:08:500:08:52

just 15.

0:08:520:08:53

He was the one with the Samurai sword.

0:08:530:08:55

Chief inspector Dave Pate says gangs now use a particularly

0:08:550:08:58

vicious method of controlling their younger members.

0:08:580:08:59

We have initiations, where they are stabbed in parts

0:08:590:09:02

of their body, to remind them they must do, what they are

0:09:020:09:04

told to do for the larger, or the hierarchy, of the gangs.

0:09:040:09:07

And you have arrested some young people in Tunbridge Wells who had

0:09:070:09:10

these stab wounds?

0:09:100:09:11

Yes, we have.

0:09:110:09:12

For Fiona and her partner, there was violence when the London

0:09:120:09:15

drug dealer came for his money and they did not have it.

0:09:150:09:18

I opened the door and he pushed me to the side and I hit my had

0:09:180:09:21

on the wall and he said "Where is he?"

0:09:210:09:24

They ran up the stairs and I heard a massive crash and a bang,

0:09:240:09:27

then they ran out of front door very, very fast.

0:09:270:09:30

I ran up the stairs and my partner was there and he had

0:09:300:09:33

a hole in his head.

0:09:330:09:34

And it was a hole in his head that turned out to have been caused

0:09:340:09:38

by him being hit on the head with a ball and chain,

0:09:380:09:41

like, medieval style.

0:09:410:09:42

Back with Operation Jupiter, Kent Police are in Chatham.

0:09:480:09:51

They are dealing with suspects they believe are involved

0:09:510:09:53

in selling drugs from London.

0:09:530:09:57

Police, stay where you are.

0:09:570:10:00

The same thing is happening in Belgravia ? a stone's throw

0:10:020:10:05

from Buckinham Palace.

0:10:050:10:06

Police!

0:10:060:10:09

Open the door.

0:10:150:10:16

While Kent Police are taking part in operations

0:10:160:10:18

like this, they are also warning schoolchildren to stay

0:10:180:10:20

away from the gangs.

0:10:200:10:24

Francis receives some police funding to share his experiences.

0:10:240:10:26

Stay away from drug dealers and gangs.

0:10:260:10:28

You never get what is promised, you live in fear

0:10:280:10:30

and the journey or path where you are going to will end

0:10:300:10:33

with death or prison.

0:10:330:10:38

I asked Fiona what happened to her partner, who was attacked

0:10:380:10:41

with the ball and chain.

0:10:410:10:42

He died with some sort of brain illness.

0:10:420:10:44

Quite soon afterwards?

0:10:440:10:46

A couple of years after.

0:10:460:10:49

So you think possible this London drug dealer actually

0:10:490:10:51

killed your partner?

0:10:510:10:52

I do.

0:10:520:10:53

I firmly believe that.

0:10:530:10:56

The London gangs might believe it is easier to carry

0:10:560:10:58

out their business outside the capital, but today, Kent

0:10:580:11:01

Police are hoping Operation Jupiter will stop their country lines.

0:11:010:11:11

Rachel Royce reporting. Coming up on Inside Out.

0:11:130:11:15

The sale of counterfeit tobacco on Facebook.

0:11:150:11:25

The number of reports coming in about the availability of illicit

0:11:250:11:28

tobacco on social media has increased and the intelligence

0:11:280:11:30

is probably just the tip of the iceberg.

0:11:300:11:34

Out in the English Channel, is a series of sandbanks

0:11:340:11:37

called the Goodwin Sands.

0:11:370:11:38

They have been a hazard to shipping for centuries,

0:11:380:11:40

but some people want them protected.

0:11:400:11:43

Yvette Austin explains why.

0:11:430:11:48

1940 and the Battle of Britain is raging in the skies

0:11:540:11:56

above the English Channel.

0:11:560:12:01

Flying Officer John-Kerr Wilson is at the controls of a Spitfire.

0:12:010:12:06

He is hit by enemy fire and his plane joins others from both

0:12:060:12:09

sides in the war that have ditched into the notorious Goodwin Sands.

0:12:090:12:17

Today is an emotional one for John Kerr-Wilson s nephew.

0:12:210:12:26

He is heading out to the sands for the first time,

0:12:260:12:30

to pay his respects to the uncle everyone called Jack.

0:12:300:12:35

On a clear sunny day, at low tide, the Goodwins can be seen

0:12:350:12:38

shimmering in the distance.

0:12:380:12:41

Created by the tides, around five miles out

0:12:410:12:42

from where I am here in Deal, the sandbanks extend for some ten

0:12:420:12:46

miles long and four miles wide.

0:12:460:12:48

As the tide rises, they disappear, becoming a hidden hazard

0:12:480:12:51

to ships and their crews.

0:12:510:12:57

Below the surface, in the murky waters,

0:13:000:13:01

the wreck of a ship, the Rooswijk.

0:13:010:13:05

Built by the Dutch East India Company, she floundered

0:13:050:13:08

and went down in stormy seas in January, 1740.

0:13:080:13:09

All 300 lives on board were lost.

0:13:090:13:16

Since the first documented wreck of 1298, it is thought there have

0:13:160:13:19

been as many as 2,000 shipwrecks, roughly plotted here,

0:13:190:13:21

on the Goodwins.

0:13:210:13:27

Which is why there is so much resistance to a plan

0:13:300:13:35

by Dover Harbour Board to dredge up to 2.5 million cubic metres

0:13:350:13:39

of sand from the Goodwins, as part of its rejuvenation

0:13:390:13:41

of the town s Western Docks.

0:13:410:13:46

Campaigners say it would disturb the graves of countless air

0:13:480:13:52

and seamen and maybe even damage historic wrecks that

0:13:520:13:54

lay undiscovered.

0:13:550:14:01

The sand would be used to fill in areas of the current

0:14:010:14:04

Western Docks, to create more space to handle cargo.

0:14:040:14:08

As the harbour board s own animations show,

0:14:080:14:10

there will also be a transformed waterfront, with a new marina,

0:14:100:14:12

which it hopes will attract a host of shops, bars,

0:14:120:14:15

cafes and restaurants.

0:14:150:14:18

And they say 99.7% of the Goodwins will remain untouched.

0:14:180:14:25

On the journey to the sands, Richard Kerr Wilson

0:14:260:14:29

remembers his uncle.

0:14:290:14:32

At Cambridge, he went to Pembroke College

0:14:320:14:33

and studied engineering.

0:14:330:14:35

He was the eldest son and he was destined to take over

0:14:350:14:40

the family engineering firm in Liverpool.

0:14:400:14:43

But being able to fly a plane, he was commissioned into the air

0:14:430:14:46

force when war broke out and he was killed

0:14:460:14:48

in action, aged 32.

0:14:480:14:51

They flew in formation, which was...

0:14:510:14:54

Well, they didn t know the rules of the game,

0:14:540:14:57

really, at that stage, because, of course, the Luftwaffe

0:14:570:15:00

did not fly in formation and they attacked them

0:15:000:15:02

and destroyed them.

0:15:020:15:05

He is certainly recorded as coming down onto the Goodwins.

0:15:050:15:08

There are differing opinions, though, as to how much is preserved

0:15:080:15:11

in such a hostile environment.

0:15:110:15:13

So, I have come to the Ramsgate Maritime Museum -

0:15:130:15:15

an Aladdin s Cave of artefacts from seafaring history.

0:15:150:15:20

And there is a room dedicated to the Goodwin Sands.

0:15:200:15:26

The Elizabethans called the Goodwin Sands,

0:15:260:15:28

The Ship Swallower .

0:15:280:15:29

What happens is, basically, the sand gets washed away

0:15:290:15:31

from the bow and the stern with tides and, then,

0:15:310:15:37

she either breaks her back or it creates a trench,

0:15:370:15:41

whereby the ship will sink into the trench and keep sinking.

0:15:410:15:45

Is there an estimate to how many people over

0:15:450:15:47

the centuries have died there?

0:15:470:15:48

Impossible to say.

0:15:480:15:58

Is there an estimate to how many people over

0:16:020:16:04

the centuries have died there?

0:16:040:16:05

Impossible to say.

0:16:050:16:11

And salvaging from the Goodwins is a huge undertaking,

0:16:110:16:13

as was proven back in 2013, when a German World War II Dornier

0:16:130:16:16

bomber, believed to be the last intact example of its type

0:16:160:16:19

in the world, was lifted from its resting place in the sand.

0:16:190:16:22

It took three years to plan the operation.

0:16:220:16:24

At the former RAF Station in Hawkinge, historian

0:16:240:16:25

David Brocklehurst has been piecing together the jigsaw

0:16:250:16:28

of the Battle of Britain.

0:16:280:16:29

There are pieces here from 700 aircraft, along with other wartime

0:16:290:16:31

relics and soldiers stories.

0:16:310:16:32

David has also compiled a list of airmen and aircraft lost

0:16:320:16:35

on the Goodwins in 1940 alone.

0:16:350:16:36

There are 60 aircraft and over 70 airmen on the list.

0:16:360:16:39

And they all, potentially, could be on the Goodwins ?

0:16:390:16:48

And he has strong feelings about Dover Harbour Board s plan.

0:16:480:16:50

It is just disrespectful.

0:16:500:16:51

If it was one of their relations, they would probably feel

0:16:510:16:54

the same way as we do but, unfortunately, these days,

0:16:540:16:56

it seems to be that money counts.

0:16:560:16:59

Because it is a moving bank, wrecks are being covered

0:16:590:17:01

and uncovered all the time.

0:17:010:17:03

Most of the surveying they keep quoting they are going to do

0:17:030:17:12

the aircraft and vessels will be.

0:17:120:17:13

And the only time they will be disturbed is, potentially,

0:17:130:17:16

if they dredge that area.

0:17:160:17:17

I feel quite emotional, because he was one of four brothers

0:17:200:17:25

and I knew all my other uncles reasonably well, so this is

0:17:250:17:28

the closest I have ever got to him.

0:17:280:17:35

And he was probably guarding the evacuation from Dunkirk,

0:17:350:17:43

which was going on at that time, so it is quite evocative

0:17:430:17:46

coming out here.

0:17:460:17:51

The thought of them dredging when there are so many

0:17:510:17:53

lost here is appalling.

0:17:530:17:59

So you ve got the South Goodwins, North Goodwins.

0:18:030:18:05

That is the Marine Conservation Zone and that red, long, thin strip

0:18:050:18:08

is the proposed dredging zone.

0:18:080:18:09

Back near Deal, Joanna Thomson s dining room has become

0:18:090:18:12

the headquarters of the battle against the dredging plan.

0:18:120:18:16

A petition has gathered more than 13,000 signatures and her piles

0:18:160:18:19

of campaign material are constantly growing.

0:18:190:18:25

She is not opposed to the harbour board s development,

0:18:250:18:27

but just where it wants to get the sand from.

0:18:270:18:30

There is no concern about how the local community might feel

0:18:300:18:33

about the Goodwins which have very close links with the coast here.

0:18:330:18:37

Not once have they actually voiced any concern or sensitivity

0:18:370:18:40

about it and, I think, probably underlying that might be

0:18:400:18:44

one of the causes why people are just thinking,

0:18:440:18:47

"Why should they? Dover Harbour Board says the Goodwins have been

0:18:470:18:54

Dover Harbour Board says the Goodwins have been

0:18:540:18:56

dredged before on numerous occasions for national infrastructure projects

0:18:560:18:58

and they say, this time, it will help ensure the ongoing

0:18:580:19:01

resilience of the cross- Channel supply route.

0:19:010:19:03

The campaigners believe, though, it involves breaking historic promises.

0:19:030:19:05

I have found clippings in the East Kent Mercury,

0:19:050:19:07

on their microfiche archive, which says that, in 1976,

0:19:070:19:09

it was agreed that they would have a licence for one project only

0:19:090:19:12

and it would not precipitate the further taking of sand.

0:19:120:19:18

Something else that is concerning the campaigners is how the dredging

0:19:180:19:20

might affect wildlife that lives in and around the sands.

0:19:200:19:25

The proposed dredge site falls within a recommended

0:19:250:19:27

Marine Conservation Zone.

0:19:270:19:29

There are 50 such zones around England s coast already designated.

0:19:290:19:32

This one is pending government approval.

0:19:320:19:37

Well, the proposal is to remove millions of tonnes of sand

0:19:370:19:40

and all the life in it, so all of those wonderful creatures

0:19:400:19:43

that live within the sand and support the fish,

0:19:430:19:45

which support the birds and the seals, would be removed.

0:19:450:19:49

And we just do not feel that is appropriate in an area

0:19:490:19:52

which is meant to be protected.

0:19:520:19:54

Dover Harbour Board has declined an interview, but in a statement,

0:19:540:19:57

says the dredge is vital to deliver the sympathetic regeneration

0:19:570:19:59

of Dover, awaited for more than 70 years.

0:19:590:20:04

It is up to the Government s Marine Management Organisation to decide

0:20:040:20:07

whether or not to grant the licence to dredge.

0:20:070:20:11

Richard and others in the campaign believe it is down to one thing -

0:20:110:20:14

whether economic gain is considered more important that letting those

0:20:140:20:17

who gave their lives rest in peace.

0:20:170:20:21

It is a great honour to be able to actually show some mark of thanks

0:20:210:20:24

and gratitude for what they did.

0:20:240:20:30

Yvette Austin reporting.

0:20:410:20:44

Now, social media is a great way

0:20:440:20:46

to communicate with friends, but it is also a new way

0:20:460:20:48

for criminals to break the law.

0:20:480:20:50

Glen Campbell reports.

0:20:500:20:56

Facebook recently launched a new concept in local trading.

0:20:560:20:59

It is called Marketplace and makes buying

0:20:590:21:03

and selling goods on its webpage easier.

0:21:030:21:10

But we have received a tip-off that there are more questionable

0:21:100:21:12

goods being sold on the Marketplace platform.

0:21:120:21:14

Goods that would normally be seen being knocked out the back

0:21:140:21:17

of a white van - cut-price tobacco and cut-price cigarettes, delivered

0:21:170:21:20

straight to your doorstep.

0:21:200:21:27

I found that the tobacco was a lot coarser.

0:21:270:21:29

It wasn t as fine as UK-bought tobacco.

0:21:290:21:31

It went dry really quickly, so you couldn t really get a decent

0:21:310:21:34

drag on the cigarette with it, at all.

0:21:340:21:40

Even using filters, it still tasted quite coarse and quite harsh.

0:21:400:21:43

Now, there s no smoke without fire, so we sent the cheap,

0:21:430:21:46

harsh-tasting tobacco that our tip-off had bought off

0:21:460:21:48

Facebook to be analysed.

0:21:480:21:53

Forensic Scientist John Griffin agreed to run some tests for us.

0:21:530:21:57

So, we did some analysis on heavy metal content.

0:21:580:22:03

We picked on two particular-heavy metals, which are lead and cadmium,

0:22:030:22:07

both of which can be uptaken by the plant,

0:22:070:22:09

and we certainly found raised levels of both.

0:22:090:22:12

How much more heavy metals in there than should be?

0:22:120:22:14

In the case of lead, twice as much.

0:22:140:22:17

With cadmium, it was about 30% higher.

0:22:170:22:21

From my point of view, the levels in there are raised

0:22:210:22:23

and are a potential safety issue.

0:22:230:22:26

We are not good as human beings in getting rid of contaminants.

0:22:260:22:29

So, the likelihood is you are going to be taking in more

0:22:290:22:32

of those contaminant metals and they will remain

0:22:320:22:34

in your system - in organs, in the brain, in other

0:22:340:22:37

organs in the body - and you will not get rid of them.

0:22:370:22:40

So, over a period of time, there is a bigger potential health risk.

0:22:400:22:44

Now, in your view, is this counterfeit or is it real?

0:22:440:22:46

What is your take on it?

0:22:460:22:49

From our point of view, the tests did not seem to indicate

0:22:490:22:52

that it was consistent with a genuine product

0:22:520:22:54

so, potentially, counterfeit.

0:22:540:22:57

But just how easy is it to get your hands on this

0:22:570:23:00

questionable tobacco?

0:23:000:23:02

To find out that, we went online and found the seller we had been

0:23:020:23:05

tipped off about, touting his wares across the South East,

0:23:050:23:09

despite the fact that selling tobacco on Facebook

0:23:090:23:11

is against their rules.

0:23:110:23:14

After a little instant messaging, I set up a deal.

0:23:140:23:19

Well, the drop is on.

0:23:190:23:21

We have had a message on Facebook telling us

0:23:210:23:23

to turn up at a leisure park just outside Tunbridge Wells.

0:23:230:23:27

I have got the cash in my wallet.

0:23:270:23:30

Because the seller s price is so cheap, we smell a rat.

0:23:300:23:34

Could the goods be stolen or possibly fake?

0:23:340:23:37

They said they would meet us here at seven,

0:23:370:23:39

so we have to wait around.

0:23:390:23:42

I just wanted to find out how big a problem the scale of illicit

0:23:420:23:46

tobacco on social media really is.

0:23:460:23:48

So, I went to see Kate Pike at the Chartered Trading Standards

0:23:480:23:51

Institute, who represent Trading Standards officers

0:23:510:23:55

on the frontline in the fight against illicit tobacco.

0:23:550:24:00

How much of a problem is this distribution of counterfeit

0:24:000:24:03

cigarettes and tobacco using social media like Facebook?

0:24:030:24:06

Over the last few years, the number of intelligence reports

0:24:060:24:09

coming in around the availability of illicit tobacco on social

0:24:090:24:11

media has increased.

0:24:110:24:16

So now, it s probably around 20% of the reports coming in.

0:24:160:24:20

That s a great concern, because you also don t know how much

0:24:200:24:23

is actually being reported.

0:24:230:24:24

The intelligence is probably the tip of the iceberg.

0:24:240:24:27

What s the difficulty that the platform of social media

0:24:270:24:29

presents to your members?

0:24:290:24:32

It makes it harder to catch them, does it?

0:24:320:24:35

Very much so and it makes it harder to investigate.

0:24:350:24:37

With social media, it is really hard to undo where they actually

0:24:370:24:40

are based, so we need to work across borders.

0:24:400:24:44

We need to cooperate with each other.

0:24:440:24:47

In fact, that is always an issue with trading standards.

0:24:470:24:51

Criminals do not stop at local authority borders.

0:24:510:24:54

And it is also difficult to find out who they are,

0:24:540:24:57

because the criminals are selling tobacco

0:24:570:24:58

using fake profiles, to avoid

0:24:580:25:02

detection, which is why we have arranged to meet them face-to-face.

0:25:020:25:11

Back at the drop-off point, the dealers have arrived

0:25:110:25:13

and straight away, there is a bit of confusion.

0:25:130:25:16

Oh, did you just bring the 200 Mayfair this time?

0:25:160:25:19

Why, what else was there?

0:25:190:25:20

I thought it was 200 Mayfair and five Amber Leaf.

0:25:200:25:25

There has been a bit of a mix-up, in that he has gone back to the boot

0:25:250:25:29

of the car, but he has definitely got

0:25:290:25:31

the gear, so we should be on.

0:25:310:25:33

He obviously had it hidden under his coat, so it is

0:25:330:25:35

all a bit of a laugh, innit?

0:25:360:25:37

When he comes back the confusion continues -

0:25:370:25:39

this time over the price.

0:25:390:25:42

Whilst he struggled with the maths, I tried

0:25:450:25:47

to find out why it was so cheap.

0:25:470:25:49

Can I have a quick look?

0:25:490:25:50

Where do they come from?

0:25:500:25:55

It s, like, Turkish.

0:25:550:25:59

They are Turkish.

0:25:590:26:00

Oh, OK.

0:26:000:26:02

How much do I owe you?

0:26:020:26:04

40 for those.

0:26:040:26:05

As he went back to the car to fetch our change,

0:26:050:26:08

we followed him back, to get a better look.

0:26:080:26:10

Right, give me the fiver back.

0:26:100:26:12

There is that and you keep the change

0:26:120:26:14

and we re all happy.

0:26:140:26:15

All right mate, cheers.

0:26:150:26:16

Can I have a receipt?

0:26:160:26:22

And just like that, deal done!

0:26:220:26:27

While the lab tests for the the tobacco that our

0:26:270:26:29

original source sent us have come back indicating potentially

0:26:290:26:31

dangerous levels of heavy metals, what I need to find out

0:26:310:26:34

is whether the tobacco and fags that we bought in the car park

0:26:340:26:37

are real or not.

0:26:370:26:38

And to do that, I have got to send them off

0:26:380:26:41

to the original manufacturer, JTI, the company which make the products

0:26:410:26:43

that our dealer claims to sell.

0:26:430:26:49

It did not take long for the results to come back

0:26:500:26:53

from the manufacturer's testing centre and, guess what,

0:26:530:26:55

the cigarettes and tobacco we bought from our Facebook

0:26:550:26:57

seller are counterfeit.

0:26:570:27:01

So how are the sellers getting away with trading fake

0:27:030:27:05

and, potentially-dangerous, tobacco on Facebook so openly?

0:27:050:27:09

Across the country, Trading Standards

0:27:090:27:10

have really suffered huge cuts.

0:27:100:27:15

Approximately 40% of the officers we had a few

0:27:150:27:18

years ago have now gone, so we are really struggling

0:27:180:27:20

with being able to tackle the number of issues that are facing

0:27:200:27:23

Trading Standards.

0:27:230:27:24

JTI have also been keeping a close eye on this burgeoning

0:27:240:27:27

illicit trade and they told us: Over the past year,

0:27:270:27:29

JTI s actions have led to the removal of just under 3,000

0:27:290:27:32

listings relating to the illegal sale of its brands on Facebook.

0:27:320:27:42

These products have an estimated street value of over ?400,000.

0:27:430:27:49

We contacted Facebook, who told us that when any prohibited activity

0:27:490:27:51

is reported, they investigate and remove content found to be

0:27:510:27:54

in breach of their commerce policy.

0:27:540:27:55

They also told us that they have removed the post advertising

0:27:550:27:58

the counterfeit cigarettes, for breaking their policy.

0:27:580:28:01

However, an identical post from the same person has

0:28:010:28:04

appeared on a different Facebook buy/sell group.

0:28:040:28:07

So, while Trading Standards and Facebook struggle to keep up,

0:28:070:28:12

the criminals keep raking in the cash.

0:28:120:28:15

Keep the fiver.

0:28:150:28:16

You take that and we are all happy.

0:28:160:28:23

If you want to find out more about the programme,

0:28:280:28:31

go to our live pages on the BBC South East website.

0:28:310:28:34

And you can catch up on iPlayer.

0:28:340:28:40

That is it from this series of Inside Out.

0:28:400:28:43

We are back in the autumn. Bye for now.

0:28:430:28:48

Download Subtitles

SRT

ASS