(Reuters) -U.S. authorities have seized 4.7 million unauthorized e-cigarettes valued at $86.5 million in the largest operation of its kind to date, the Department of Health and Human Services said on Wednesday.
The seizures, led by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, were part of a joint federal operation in Chicago aimed at intercepting illegal e-cigarette shipments, HHS said.
Big tobacco companies, campaigners and others have called on the agency to focus enforcement on distributors and middlemen that fuel the market for unauthorised e-cigarettes from U.S. soil but have so far faced limited action from the FDA.
Most of the illegal shipments originated in China and included vague product descriptions and incorrect valuations to evade duties and safety reviews, HHS said.
“This enforcement action is part of the FDA’s broader aggressive strategy against childhood vaping,” HHS added.
In total this year, the FDA and CBP have blocked over 6 million unauthorized e-cigarettes worth more than $120 million from entering the United States.
At a press conference in Chicago earlier on Wednesday, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that the Department of Justice, HHS, FDA and other agencies had partnered to seize unauthorized vape products nationwide.
The conference was held outside Midwest Goods, a vape distributor targeted in the operation, where authorities seized $14 million worth of vaping products.
Midwest Goods said in a statement that it was cooperating with authorities and would defend its rights in court if necessary.
The company added that the seized products had been on the market for years and were not challenged during a recent inspection by the FDA.
(Reporting by Puyaan Singh in Bengaluru and Emma Rumney in London; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi)
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