Storeowner loses licence just a month after taking over

A trader can no longer sell cigarettes and alcohol from the shop he bought only a few months ago after being caught peddling fake tobacco.

International Mini Market in Evesham’s Port Street was found to be selling fake cigarettes and rolling tobacco on several occasions during investigations by Worcestershire Trading Standards.

Current licence holder Daniel-Gabriel Gisca, who had only taken the reins in March and offered no defence, was said to have already shown “complete disregard” and had “catastrophically failed” to follow the conditions of the licence and had continued to be “systematically involved” in the sale of fake cigarettes from his shop despite previous warnings.

Trading standards said there were “major non-compliances” during a visit last month where officers found hundreds of miniature vodka bottles on display shop’s counter “would have easily been accessed by a child.”

Officers found no fake cigarettes in the shop during the inspection but did log “suspicious activity” which was later discovered to be “runners” leaving and returning to the shop with counterfeit products once an order had been placed at the counter.

Wychavon District Council’s licensing committee ruled that Mr Gisca will no longer be able to sell cigarettes and alcohol from his Port Street shop after confiscating his licence at a meeting in Pershore last Wednesday (April 6).

Chris Coxon from Worcestershire Trading Standards said current licence holder Daniel-Gabriel Gisca, who had taken the reigns in March, had shown “complete disregard” and had “catastrophically failed” to follow the conditions of the licence and continues to be “systematically involved” in the sale of fake cigarettes from his shop.

Mr Coxon said the shop had a “long history” dating back to 2017 when the first seizure of counterfeit cigarettes was made – albeit under different owners – and was still “heavily involved in the sale of illicit tobacco” during new investigations in 2021.

Kosar Johar Mohammed, who was the licence holder before Mr Gisca, was found in possession of more than a thousand packs of fake cigarettes and more than half a kilo of rolling tobacco worth around £15,000 following two stings last year.