There are concerns about increasing businesses conducting “illegal activity” in a Wiltshire town as police say they’re tackling the issue.

During a recent Chippenham Town Council meeting, fears about businesses selling illegal or counterfeit products were raised following a number of raids in the town.

Three businesses were raided by Wiltshire Council’s Trading Standards team at the start of November and both illegal tobacco and illegal vapes were allegedly seized.

This was followed by another raid on a Chippenham premises on Thursday, November 21, when stores in Melksham and Devizes were also hit.

While a “significant amount of counterfeit and unsafe goods” were confiscated in this latest operation, the council has been unable to comment on which stores had items seized due to its ongoing investigation.

During a Wiltshire Police presentation to Chippenham Town Council, Cllr Liz Alstrom questioned what could be done to stop “illegal” operators in the area.

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She said: “There were a couple of raids on some of the premises within my patch in Chippenham and there is a concern about the type of activities that’s happening in those businesses.

“I was just wondering what the police can do to manage this kind of activity and to show that ultimately as a community we don’t want to see this illegal activity in Chippenham.

“There are similar premises starting to pop up in other places in Wiltshire and there is a concern among residents and businesses that this is a growing issue.”

Sgt Jamie Ball admitted that the issue of businesses conducting “illegal activity” was one that impacted towns around Wiltshire and the UK.

But he emphasised that police are working with Trading Standards to crack down on the issue in the Chippenham area.

Sgt Ball said: “Unfortunately this is something that happens nationwide, in every town you go to there will always be those shops or retail businesses that we have concern about.

“We’ve got a really good working relationship with Wiltshire Trading Standards, we speak to them on a daily basis and there were two warrants conducted 10 days ago.

“As a result of those warrants, a large quantity of counterfeit tobacco and counterfeit vapes were seized.

“I think it shows that what we’re doing is working and that people are starting to report their suspicions around some of these premises within the town.”