CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. (KESQ) – Police conducted an operation on retail businesses suspected of selling illicit flavored tobacco products and illicit cannabis.

The operation was conducted on Monday, police announced.

“Cathedral City Police Officers partnered with Agents from the California Department of Tax Fee Administration (CDTFA) to conduct a series of inspections for evidence of illicit flavored tobacco product sales and illicit cannabis sales at licensed tobacco retail businesses in the city,” reads a news release by the Cathedral City Police Department. “The target businesses had been identified during prior inspection operations as having sold, or displayed for sale, flavored tobacco products in violation of the state of California’s 2022 ban on the sale of flavored tobacco products. 

Officers and Agents issued citations to four retail businesses for unlawful sales of flavored tobacco products and cannabis, and seized thousands of flavored tobacco/ cannabis products.

The businesses that were cited face administrative fines, issued by the CDTFA.

If you have information regarding illicit tobacco sales activity in Cathedral City, please contact the Cathedral City Police Department at (760) 770-0300 / Sergeant Rick Osborne at rosborne@cathedralcity.gov; or via the Cathedral City Police Department website at: cathedralcitypolice.com; or email tips@cathedralcity.gov.

The operation comes from a grant CCPD received from the California Department of Justice to conduct retail tobacco sale education and enforcement operations throughout the city. The operations include inspections of licensed tobacco retailers for proper licensure and signage, “decoy” minor tobacco purchase operations, and business inspections for evidence of illicit sale of flavored tobacco products and cannabis.

The goal of this grant is to ensure that licensed tobacco retailers are aware of current California state tobacco laws, and are engaging in the safe and lawful sale of tobacco products to the public.