Illegal alcohol and shisha found at Birmingham shop

A shop in Winson Green, Birmingham could lose its licence after it was found to be selling counterfeit alcohol and illegal shisha.

Amir Supermarket on Dudley Road went before the council’s licensing committee on 2 August after being called in for a review by Trading Standards following a visit from the authority back in March.

Officials had been visiting the shop to investigate claims that it was selling illegal tobacco, with a team including a tobacco detection dog carrying out an inspection on 12 March.

They did not find any illegal tobacco during their visit – however they did uncover 45 varieties of illegal shisha without the proper warning displays, as well as several bottles of vodka that were displaying incorrect alcohol percentages.

And 16 bottles of counterfeit wine were also seized during the visit, leading Trading Standards to call for a revocation of the shop’s licence.

Asked whether the purchase of the counterfeit goods could have been done in good faith, a representative for Trading Standards said: “It’s possible, but I have to say in most cases people know what they’re buying, they know there’s something not quite right somewhere, and unfortunately it’s often an offer too good to miss.

“So yes they could have been duped, but obviously it was more than one sale because we’ve been provided with at least three invoices, and I think if they were possibly suspicious on one occasion, on two or three occasions they would start to think no, this is too good to be true. Either the source is wrong or the product isn’t quite right.

“I think it’s been an awful wake up call for them either way really – people do complain and say ‘look, that product doesn’t seem right, I’m going to complain about it,’ and you can’t get away with doing something wrong forever.”

A representative for Amir Supermarket did speak in favour of the shop keeping its licence, however his evidence was heard behind closed doors as it was ‘personal’ in nature.