Smuggled vapes will become as profitable to criminal gangs as drugs, warns crime

SMUGGLED vapes will become as profitable to criminal gangs as drugs, a crime expert warns.

It will be illegal to sell or buy disposable vapes from early next year under PM Rishi Sunak’s crackdown.

But criminologist James Martin warned this risks fuelling a massive criminal black market in the products — as it has in his native Australia.

Dr Martin, a lecturer at Melbourne’s Deakin University, said: “The profits from the UK black market will be comparable to hard drugs and the gangs are licking their lips.

“They want the disposables ban.”

He added: “In Australia, biker gangs buy disposable vapes from China for $3 (£1.60) and sell them for $30 (£16).

“No amount of enforcement will stop people trying to access those profits.

“In the UK you already have County Lines gangs with their supply lines in place who will sell vapes through encrypted WhatsApp groups and have them to your door in an hour.

“This ban creates a huge opportunity and there will be many players wanting to get involved.

“That is what will lead to turf wars.”

Mark Oates, founder of the pro-vaping campaign group We Vape, said: “It seems extraordinary we have Australian law enforcement and experts warning our government not to make the same mistakes they have and we are pressing blindly on.”

A government spokesman said: “We are boosting investment in our enforcement agencies by £30million per year.”