Yuma, Somerton stores cited in Arizona tobacco sales crackdown

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said Operation Counter Strike completed 1,882 inspections of tobacco retailers across every Arizona county in fiscal 2025 and issued 451 criminal citations for sales to minors. That works out to a citation in just under 24% of the inspections, a sign the enforcement push reached far beyond one city or one type of business.

Stores in Yuma and Somerton were among the retailers cited in the crackdown, putting Yuma County inside a statewide compliance sweep aimed at tobacco and nicotine sales to people under 21. Arizona’s tobacco sales age is 21, and the Attorney General’s Office says its Tobacco Enforcement Unit helps carry out that enforcement work.

Operation Counter Strike relies on youth volunteers who enter tobacco retailers with special investigators from the Attorney General’s Office and attempt to buy tobacco products. If a clerk sells to the minor, the retailer may receive a citation for furnishing tobacco to a minor, which the office describes as a petty offense. The program has been operating since 2002.

For parents in Yuma, Somerton and across the county, the latest action shows minors can still gain access when stores miss basic ID checks. The state’s inspection total, spread across every Arizona county, suggests the problem is not limited to one pocket of the state, even if the local citations in Yuma County involved only a small number of stores.

The Attorney General’s Office also publishes tobacco-law guidance for retailers and the public, underscoring that compliance is expected at the counter, not after the fact. With 451 criminal citations tied to 1,882 inspections, the statewide numbers point to continuing scrutiny of convenience stores, smoke shops and other tobacco sellers, and they show Yuma and Somerton retailers are part of a broader enforcement pattern still being watched by state regulators.