Illegal mini-marts to shut for up to 12 months under law change prompted by BBC

Illegal mini-marts to shut for up to 12 months under law change prompted by BBC 3 hours ago Share Save Add as preferred on Google Ed Thomas , UK editor , Patrick Clahane and Rebecca Wearn "This is a massive national problem" - watch Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood with Ed Thomas on the streets of Birmingham Illegal mini-marts, barbers and vape shops could be shut for up to a year under new powers announced by the government, following lengthy investigative reporting by BBC News into organised crime on British high streets. We have exposed drug gangs, child sexual exploitation, money laundering and immigration crime linked to shops selling illegal cigarettes, vapes and drugs. As the law stands in England and Wales, authorities can only close a shop for three months, with an option to extend closure to six months using anti-social behaviour legislation. The government's planned change will double the potential closure time. Making the announcement, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood praised the BBC's reporting, saying that people felt high streets were being taken over by "organised crime [and] immigration criminality". The government was "not prepared to tolerate it", she said. This type of criminality "makes people lose faith, not just in their local area but in democracy, in what our country is, and we can't let that happen", she added. The Home Office says the extended closures will give investigators more time to gather evidence, pursue prosecutions and identify business owners, while preventing rogue operators from simply reopening and resuming illegal activity. The news has been welcomed by Trading Standards officers, who have repeatedly told us they lack the necessary powers to tackle the problem. "Closure orders are a key enforcement tool... for tackling 'dodgy shops'" says John Herriman, chief executive of the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI). There is "almost universal support" from his profession for the new measures, he adds. Other Trading Standards officers told us it would become less financially viable for unscrupulous business owners to simply sit out closure orders, and it would force landlords to pay more attention to who they are renting to. 'Open criminality' For nine months, we have repeatedly asked the home secretary for an interview to discuss what we had found. Last week, we were invited to join Mahmood on police raids of mini-marts on Soho Road in the Handsworth area of Birmingham - a high street bordering her own constituency. At one shop, police and Trading Standards officers found illegal cigarettes and snuff (finely ground tobacco). A shopworker was arrested after a makeshift weapon - a plank with a nail - was found under the counter. The shopworker, who said he was a student from Afghanistan, admitted that he thought selling illegal cigarettes was wrong. When asked why he was selling them, he replied: "Perhaps you should ask the manager, he's the owner." However, the owner was not about, he said. A police raid