Posted on Tuesday 15th October 2019
Sniffer dogs used during raids
A Shopworker from Derby has been ordered to pay fines and costs totalling £635 for selling illicit tobacco.
Fuaad Mohammed, aged 41 from Aviemore Way, Derby, pleaded guilty to the offences at North Staffordshire Magistrates Court on Friday 11 October 2019.
Following a search of the premise Yum Yum, 12 Brewery Street in Rugeley, on 25 November 2016, Staffordshire County Council’s Trading Standards Officers accompanied by the police and a specialist sniffer dog found a total of 17,120 illegal cigarettes and 10.35 kgs of tobacco.
The stash, with an estimated street value of £5,500 was found in a back room of the shop and in a hidden cupboard.
Gill Heath, Cabinet Member responsible for Trading Standards at Staffordshire County Council said:
“The sale of illicit tobacco is a crime which not only damages local communities but harms legitimate businesses and we will take action against individuals who knowingly sell it.
“This successful prosecution shows that we take the issue seriously and while people can try and hide, they will ultimately face justice.”
The investigation was part of a wider multi-agency operation aimed at disrupting the criminal activities of foreign nationals known as Operation Trivium. Gill added:
“The sale of illicit goods evades tax which ultimately affects public services and their sale can fund criminal gangs. Our Trading Standards team continue to target their resources where they know the sale of such goods is going on. And now, we can reinvest money recovered under the Proceeds of Crime Act from criminal activity in Staffordshire which is reinvested in the service.”
In the UK, it is estimated that about one in 10 of all cigarettes and half of all hand-rolling tobacco are not duty paid. The illegal trade in tobacco has strong links to organised crime and illicit tobacco has a devastating effect on health. These products are widely available at low cost and this undermines efforts to discourage smoking through higher pricing of legitimate tobacco.
Anyone with information about the sale of illicit goods can call Staffordshire’s confidential trading standards line on 01785 330356.