Tourist’s charge of $1,200 for candy leads to police raid, den of illicit goods

This led officers to discover a secret room stocked with the suspected illegal goods and an escape door leading to the street. “The rash of U.S. candy stores which sprang up during the pandemic rapidly became a blight on Oxford Street with some unscrupulous owners peddling unsafe and illegal goods,” Adam Hug, leader of Westminster City Council, told The Washington Post. Some of the seized vapes claimed to be “zero nicotine” but listed nicotine in their ingredients list, it said. A search on Companies House, which registers U.K. businesses, shows that several companies linked to Oxford Street candy shop addresses have been dissolved or lack contact details, and several have been recently liquidated or ordered to shut down by courts. The customer who was overcharged last month received a refund after they returned to the store with police officers, according to the council.