Police find illegal cigarettes hidden in a remote controlled shelf in Boston shop

Officers discovered a stash of illegal cigarettes hidden in a remote controlled shelf in Lincolnshire.

Following suspicions about the sale of illicit cigarettes and alcohol, police found the goods behind a ceiling light in a shop on Horncastle Road in Boston.

It contained over 5,000 illegal cigarettes.

Video released by Lincolnshire Trading Standards officers shows how a remote control is used to lower a ceiling light above a stairway to reveal shelves packed with counterfeit and unsafe cigarettes.

They were all were seized, and the matter is now under investigation.

Andy Wright, Principal Trading Standards Officer with Lincolnshire Trading Standards, said hides and concealments have become more and more elaborate.

He said, "The shop concerned had only just opened, and raised our suspicions because it was so tiny, it would be inadequate as a viable retail business and could only be profitable as a source of illegal goods.

"Clearly they had invested some time and money in a venture they thought would prove profitable for a long time."

It's not the first of its kind - the team previously found a hide in Spalding where the criminals had lined a large storeroom entirely with false walls, creating a room within a room.

Between the false walls and the original walls there was a 4-inch gap packed with thousands of illegal cigarettes.