"Corner shop gangs" have been targeting council workers with a campaign of death threats and sex abuse, a new survey has revealed.
Trading standards officers across the UK are facing violence, threats and intimidation from organised crime gangs operating through high street mini-marts and vape shops.
Physical assaults, sexual harassment, vehicle attacks and stalking have been reported by frontline teams in a survey conducted by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI).
The survey found 96 per cent of trading standards teams now encounter organised crime during their visits, with more than 70 per cent facing threats of intimidation or violence.
The CTSI says organised crime now represents the "number one threat" facing the profession.
One officer, named only as Mandy, received a midnight death threat from a Kurdish crime gang she was investigating for selling illegal cigarettes and nitrous oxide across a network of more than 50 shops, the BBC reports.
Her car was rammed twice outside her home, causing over £10,000 in damage on the first occasion.
After two years of intimidation, including men sitting outside her house and defendants tracking her movements while on bail, she and her husband sold their home and moved, using three removal companies to conceal their new address from the gang.
In some areas, up to half of all mini-marts and vape shops and a third of American candy stores, are believed to have links to criminal networks
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A female apprentice officer in London recounted that she was locked inside shops during inspections, receiving sexual comments from staff.
She consequently suffered recurring nightmares before raids.
Andrew Meaney, a Welsh trading standards officer with 36 years of experience, was grabbed by the throat and spat on after intercepting a car loaded with illegal tobacco.
The attacker was fined £415.
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As many as half of convenience stores and vape retailers in some areas are estimated to have links with organised crime
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Meanwhile, the CTSI has mapped gang activity across the high street, discovering they have now infiltrated smaller towns, including Great Yarmouth and Barry in Wales.
The top 10 hotspots for organised crime operating in high streets are Birmingham, Liverpool, London, Bradford, Manchester, Leeds, Coventry, Sheffield, Huddersfield and Brighton.
CTSI also revealed there are two apparent "corridors of crime" – one running from Liverpool to Hull and Grimsby.
The second stretches across Dorset, Hampshire and Sussex.
Organised crime costs the UK £47billion annually – 2.5 times the entire Home Office budget and more than 56 times the National Crime Agency's total budget.
A minimum of 59,000 people in the UK are known to be involved in serious and organised crime.
Ninety-nine per cent of trading standards professionals have seen an increase in cash-intensive businesses on their local high streets since 2020.
The CTSI's chief executive John Herriman described organised crime as "endemic across the UK".
He added: “It is clear from this research that serious and organised crime is endemic across the UK, and the threat posed by illegitimate high street businesses is having a significant impact on the work of Trading Standards, and our ability to protect consumers and maintain the level playing field for legitimate business."
The trading body has called for greater powers to close illegal premises more quickly and for longer.
It is seeking £100million in investment to fund more officers.
Currently, shops can be shut for up to three months under anti-social behaviour legislation.
However, obtaining the required supporting statements is often difficult and when closed, gangs frequently reopen nearby.
The Government said it has visited over 3,000 suspect premises and arrested nearly 1,000 individuals since March 2025.
It announced a new high streets taskforce backed by £10million a year for three years, including 120 new trading standards apprentices.