Inside the ‘epidemic’ of rogue vape shops exploiting children

Vape shops have become the latest “epidemic” of child exploitation, as trading standards officers are catching shops illegally selling vapes to children as young as 11, writes Ciaran Jenkins.

Produced by Sally Chesworth

Given everything we think we know about the sinister figures who groom children, it is alarming to be sitting in a Trading Standards Office in Dudley and to hear about a new hidden frontline in the fight against child exploitation.

Kuldeep Maan, pictured below, is the Principal Trading Standards Officer at Dudley Council. He and his colleague Richard Timmins spend their days shutting down rogue vape shops and mini marts, many linked to organised criminal gangs accused of all manner of illegality, from dealing drugs to illegally selling vapes to children.

But that is not all.

“We have complaints that vapes and illegal goods are perhaps given free on some occasions to children in return for sexual favours,” says Kuldeep.

‘Disgusting’

He says he believes it’s an “epidemic” and the situation is so grave that his team prioritises the shops they shut down based on the grooming threat to children. They’re a sort of unofficial child protection service.

“Our priority is, number one, we stop that shop first. So we’ll focus all our efforts on a particular shop, get that closed down,” he says.

Kuldeep’s concerns are echoed at a national level by the body that represents trading standards officers, who tell us “vapes are being used as a hook to lure in vulnerable children”.

Richard remarks that he is aware of shops illegally selling vapes to children as young as 11-years-old.

“It’s just disgusting,” he says.

Last summer, the team took action against a shop after intelligence the men involved were driving 12-year-old customers in cars to an unknown location.

Organised criminal networks

Over the past year, Kuldeep’s team have shut down nearly 40 rogue vape shops and mini marts. They believe many are run by organised criminal networks, with a constantly evolving roster of shop workers from countries including Kurdistan and Afghanistan.

“We get the people behind the counter to empty their pockets,” says Kuldeep “and they’ve got reams of condoms”.

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“I once came across a book and it was basically written in Kurdish and it was translated and basically they were learning English words for like, ‘you’re pretty, I love your hair, you know, you’re young and beautiful’.”

We join the team as they raid one shop that they do not believe is involved in child grooming but does, they say, have links to organised crime.

They think a previous owner is pulling the strings. He’s a man charged with rape and strangulation, which he denies, and with police warning markers linking him to firearms. He told us that the shop had not acted illegally.

Hiding in plain sight

Kuldeep’s team caught the shop selling vapes to a 15-year-old in an undercover sting. But when they tried previously to take it out of business, the shop owner took the front door off to keep trading 24-hours-a-day.

This time a locksmith drills through the shutters to forcibly close the shop. Their work isn’t easy - and the business owners are not always pleased to see them.

These shops operate in the heart of our communities. For Kuldeep and Richard, the risk is hiding in plain sight.

And when they suspect that children could be harmed, they can’t act urgently enough.