Salford shopkeeper fined £1500 for selling illicit tobacco

A Salford shopkeeper has been fined for selling counterfeit cigarettes and hand rolling tobacco which did not have health warnings on the packaging as required by law.

According to local reports, Tasawar Hussain, 31, of Liverpool Road, Eccles, was fined £1500 in court costs and a victim surcharge of £95 at Tameside Magistrates Court on Monday (28) for breaching Section 92 of the Trade Marks Act 1994 on two counts and Regulation 5 of the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 on one count.

A 12-month community order was also imposed on Hussain and he was sentenced to 160 hours of unpaid work and ten days of rehabilitation, reports said.

The case was brought by Salford City Council’s Trading Standards team after officers seized almost 13,000 counterfeit cigarettes and 49 pouches of counterfeit tobacco at Xtra Local in Liverpool Road, Eccles on Feb 4, 2020.

Almost £5,000 in cash was seized from the premises under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 on suspicion of being obtained from or to be used for illegal activity and the money was later subject to a forfeiture order to the council.

Hussain, who had identified himself as the owner of the business, repeatedly denied during the inspection that he had personally sold the tobacco. After illegal tobacco was found in the till area on inspection, Hussain denied that there was any more on the premises, however officers soon discovered a quantity of counterfeit hand rolling tobacco.

Hussain was then given another opportunity to disclose whether there was any more illegal tobacco on the premises before the search continued, the court heard. After initially stating there was not, he then admitted there was and revealed a further two bags containing counterfeit cigarettes and hand rolling tobacco.

Following the inspection, the goods seized were confirmed to be counterfeit.

John Searle, Director of Place at Salford City Council said: “Despite Mr Hussain’s repeated denial that these goods were sold on the premises, it is clear that given the quantity that was seized by the team that the tobacco was there to be sold to the public.”