The trade of illicit cigarettes is booming.
This is according to Port Elizabeth police who arrested a spaza shop owner in Arcadia on Monday evening.
Spokesperson Colonel Priscilla Naidu says police members were patrolling in Claassen Street when they noticed a spaza shop that was still trading.
She says as police entered the store they saw a customer buying smokes.
Police searched the premises and found a substantial amount of cigarettes hidden under the counter as well as in a back room.
Colonel Naidu says tobacco products to the value of R200 000 were confiscated.
She says police in Nelson Mandela Bay Metro have been clamping down on these traders and to date, thousands of cigarettes have been confiscated.
The shop owner will appear in court soon where he will be charged in terms of the Disaster Management Act – sale of tobacco, tobacco products or cigarettes.
