It’s a Crime – Retailer jailed for selling illicit tobacco
The June issue of Neighbourhood Retailer will feature an article on the scourge of illicit tobacco and cigarette smuggling. Agencies are cracking down hard and penalties are being enforced. Just this month, a retailer has been jailed for selling illicit tobacco in his store. Dudley Council’s Trading Standards carried out an investigation in 2019 which resulted in a case being brought against Ali Ibrahim Hamad of West Bromwich for the sale of illegal tobacco in his shop, Istanbul Mini Market.
He was initially sentenced in April 2019 for offences under the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016, Trade Marks Act 1994 and Money Laundering under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, and given a suspended sentence of 18 months, 150 hours of unpaid work, ordered to pay costs of £5028.50 and a Confiscation Order of £58,923.09 was made.
However, as reported in Convenience Store, after asking for an extension to repay the money, he failed to attend an enforcement court hearing and a warrant for arrest was issued. An investigation found that since the original court case when the confiscation order was made, the defendant had acquired an expensive vehicle.
He was arrested and brought to Birmingham Magistrates on 17 June and ordered to serve a 181 day default sentence, while the confiscation order currently stands at almost £66,000.
Cigarette smuggling and illicit tobacco trading remains a scourge on the sector. The June issue of NR carries a special report in to the crime. According to Dudley Council alone, it has seized more than 20,000 fake cigarettes and 7.5 kilos of illegal tobacco in the last 12 months. It estimates that the value of the cigarettes and tobacco seized in the past year would be worth in excess of £45,000 if the products were genuine.
Border Force NI has recently made significant seziures in Northern Ireland, while revenue officers in Dublin Port recently seized a significant supply from Belgium.
