"Red flag" vapes bought by a reporter in Durham City are filled with chemicals police cannot identify, it has been revealed. 

Earlier this year, an investigation by The Northern Echo uncovered vapes filled with the unknown ingredient Harm Reduction Innovation (HRI) being sold by shops in Durham. At the time they were labelled as "red flag" devices by Trading Standards, as they were untraceable, untested, and unregulated. 

Now, officers from Durham Constabulary and Darlington Borough Council's Trading Standards department have said that "little is known about this substance and its safety" after testing the devices. 

Testing was done on 'Bloody Bar' vapes bought from St News and Durham Tech, convenience stores on Durham's North Road. The lab found they had 13ml each of this unknown nicotine substitute. 

Though they were marked as compliant with the law, Shaun Trevor, Darlington Borough Council's Trading Standards manager, says this is due to "grey areas" in the legislation. 

He said: "We know that these HRI products were initially made for a market in the US as a nicotine substitute, but they were outlawed there. European and UK markets were flooded by producers getting rid of extra stock. 

(Image: Sarah Caldecott)

"Little is known about this substance and its safety - we've been unable to find anything more about HRI. They're operating outside of the regulations."

Police testing deemed another device test purchased by The Northern Echo was illegal - as it had two 12ml tanks for nicotine liquid. As the UK has a legal limit of 2ml on vape tank size, this product, sold by Mobile & Mac Point on North Road, is "clearly" illegal for sale in the UK. 

The extra-large load of nicotine in this vape - around 15,000 puffs - means it is equivalent to around 24 packets of cigarettes, said Shaun Trevor, the manager of Trading Standards at Darlington Borough Council.

At the time of purchase, there was a warrant out for the arrest of this store's proprietor, after he failed to appear in court for a hearing, accused of selling products to minors and selling devices with oversized tanks. 

Testing carried out of vapes, which is expensive and time-consuming, is currently "playing catch up" to a market that is rife with illegal products. 

(Image: Sarah Caldecott)

Lab tests on vapes can determine the size of the tank, whether they contain drugs, their metal content, the degradation of the coils and if they are leaching any heavy metals into the vape liquid. 

Across County Durham and Darlington, Police and Trading Standards are seeing illegal vapes that contain toxic carcinogen formaldehyde, and so-called "nicotine enhance" acetaldehyde, which hooks people onto nicotine more effectively, and has been linked with lung disease and respiratory problems. 

But Mr Trevor said: "Markets are moving, and manufacturers and sellers are finding ways to get around regulations.

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"For example, the vapes we see labelled nicotine-free are rarely actually free of nicotine. Often, they are full-strength vapes put into nicotine-free packaging. When Trading Standards officers go into shops, these devices are more difficult to seize as the legal restrictions are lesser."

The sale of illegal vapes "goes hand in hand" with organised crime, drug dealing and money laundering - and vape addiction is leading children into the criminal world. 

DC Jonathan Keenan, from Durham Police said: "We've identified that the illegal vape market is the first rung on the ladder of county lines drug operations - and in discussions about it with us, the Home Office has said that they also consider illegal vapes to be the first step down the road of organised crime."