Three wholesalers were convicted of selling alcohol illegally between 2021 and 2022, according to HMRC figures published last week.

The Alcohol Wholesaler Registration Scheme was launched in 2017, and has convicted 37 businesses to date.

The HMRC data showed zero were found to be in breach of regulations between 2020 and 2021.

The new data shows nearly 760,000 litres of illicit beer alone were seized in the 2021/2022 financial year, an increase of more than 600%.

Illicit wine seizures also reached more than 205,000 litres, an increase of more than 1,700% compared with the previous year. Experts stated numbers fell the year before due to the pandemic hampering enforcement activity, such as visits to stores.