Cardiff retailer fined over huge haul of illegal cigarettes

A Cardiff shopkeeper fined heavily and ordered 20 days of rehabilitation after his hidden store of more than 9,000 illegal cigarettes got exposed.

According to local reports, Kovan Nasser was hoarding more than 9,000 cigarettes behind cladding at Santos Off Licence in Canton.

The offences were uncovered in May 2021 when HMRC and trading standards officers visited the Cowbridge Road East convenience shop and “identified an area behind cladding in the back room that was secured with an electromagnetic lock”, said a spokesperson for the Shared Regulatory Services.

Inside the officers found a store of counterfeit and illegal hand-rolling tobacco and cigarettes. They seized 9,440 cigarettes and 2.05kg of tobacco. Nasser, 40, initially claimed he “knew nothing about it” but in April this year he admitted four trademark offences, one under tobacco regulations, and one under standardised packaging rules.

Cardiff Magistrates’ Court heard some of the cigarettes had fake Richmond, Amber Leaf and Lambert & Butler branding.

District Judge David Webster said he took into account that the defendant had pleaded guilty, although not on the first occasion.

He said these were sophisticated offences as there had been structural adaptations to the premises. The judge ordered Santos Off Licence to pay a fine of £2,500, prosecution costs of £750 and a victim services surcharge of £190. He also sentenced Nasser, of Heol Glan Rheidol in Cardiff Bay, to a £100 fine, costs of £750, a surcharge of £95, and 20 days of rehabilitation.

It comes as Welsh government admitted that there is evidence of the market “feeding” other areas of crime including gangs, drugs, and human trafficking. And a report from HMRC estimates that the trade costs the UK taxpayer more than £2 billion in lost revenues each year.