I was threatened quite a few times in my career with the BBC, especially when I was a crime correspondent – it went with the territory! writes Clinton Rogers.
But some interesting developments on the local crime scene in Somerset have tweaked a few painful memories of late.
I’ve been watching with interest the police action to close down vape shops and 'European mini marts' across Somerset selling illegal tobacco.
It has reminded me of a news documentary I did for the BBC back in the late 1990s, focusing on sophisticated gangs who were exploiting teenagers to run tobacco smuggling networks, making millions of pounds.
So, I suspect today these local shops are just the tip of the iceberg of a corrupt 'industry' that probably hasn’t changed much over the decades.
When I first became a crime correspondent in the South West, I had a meeting with senior investigating officers from HMRC (Customs and Excise) and asked them what message they would like to get across through the media.
The answer was interesting – to expose illegal tobacco smuggling.
The officers felt that while a crackdown on drug gangs was always warmly welcomed by the public, breaking tobacco gangs was somehow seen as "petty and unimportant."
But they argued that defrauding the revenue of millions of pounds of tobacco tax impacts your NHS and your local school.
Fair point.
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And that turned into three days following gangs who were importing tobacco on an industrial scale from Belgium, where the duty at the time was almost zero, and selling it in pubs and small shops in the UK.
The operation was strangely impressive, though unsophisticated.
Gangs would use students to go from Dover to Calais wearing backpacks.
On the French side, they would meet 'middlemen' who would stuff their bags with thousands of pounds of tobacco pouches they had bought from sleazy-looking tobacco warehouses just over the Belgian border.
One backpack would make a profit of at least £500.
The students would get straight back on the ferry to Dover, sprint to the car park where 'white van men' would collect the product...and the student would sprint back to the ferry to do another run straight away.
It was known as the 'Dover Dash.'
Filming it all was interesting up to the point where we confronted one of the ringleaders in a Belgian warehouse.
To say he was camera-shy would be an understatement.
But in spite of his threats and a few scuffles, we came away unscathed, and it made for good TV.
So next time you see a vape shop or mini mart closed down by the police, think: maybe there’s a Belgian connection.
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