Authorities seize 80,000 flavored vapes from warehouse near Schiphol

Around 80,000 illegal electronic cigarettes were found at a warehouse by Schiphol on Wednesday. The vapes had sweet flavors, which are banned by Dutch law. The Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) seized the vapes and had them destroyed.

According to the NVWA, the vapes had tastes like Lemonade, strawberry, kiwi-passionfruit-guava, lemon-lime, and gummy bear. The e-cigarettes were found at a logistics company on Wednesday.

The importer, who was based in Gelderland, was also caught with this offense two months ago. The NVWA found around 70,000 refill bottles in a warehouse in Zuid-Holland on that occasion.

Only vapes with a tobacco flavor are allowed to be sold in the Netherlands. Sweet flavors are banned because they may appeal to young people, which can then lead to a nicotine addiction. Anyone found guilty of selling flavored vapes can face heavy fines or criminal charges.

“Vapes are addictive and harmful to health. Through supervision and enforcement, the NVWA is helping to reduce the availability of tobacco and vapes to young people. In doing so, the NVWA supports the goal of the National Prevention Agreement, which aims to achieve a smoke-free generation by 2040,” the safety authority said.

A total of 265,000 vapes have been seized by the authorities since the ban came into place last year.