Closure notices have been served on three shops in Armley as part of continued Safer Streets activity to make town centres safer.
The closure notices follow a joint operation with officers from the Leeds Anti-Social Behaviour Team and West Yorkshire Trading Standards in July when illicit goods worth more than £80,000 were seized.
On 15 September, closure notices were issued to Pet Food Shop on Branch Road, Blue Sky on Town Street and Tatra Sklep on Branch Road.
On 16 September, Kirklees Magistrates’ Court granted a full premises closure order for Pet Food Shop which renders the premises closed until 15 December.
A full premises closure order was also granted for Blue Sky at Kirklees Magistrates’ Court on 17 September which renders the premises closed until 22 October.
The owners of Tatra Sklep contested the closure order application, and a further hearing will be held at Kirklees Magistrates’ Court on 1 October.
Sergeant Steve Ellis from the Leeds West Neighbourhood Police team said: “We will continue to work with our partners to act on information about the sale of illicit items, such as tobacco products and vapes. Not only can these cheap, unregulated products cause harm to people’s health, but they also take trade away from legitimate local businesses and can be linked to wider organised criminality.
“The retail sector plays a big part in our Safer Streets work to make our town and city centres safer. I would urge anyone with information about the sale of unlicensed, unregulated products to please report it so that action can be taken.”
Why was anti social police working with West Yorkshire trading
Anti social usually means nearby residents are affected
But these police are not capable of sorting anti social behaviour because they are needed to do non police work
Typical misuse of resources by West Yorkshire Police
Priorities are people not helping trading standards