Doncaster shopkeeper jailed for counterfeit tobacco operation

Trading Standards officers found Hussain Khdir was selling incorrectly-packaged cigarettes without health warnings when they carried out a test purchase at Asia European Food City, on Copley Road, on October 5, 2018.

Prosecutor Ian West explained how Khdir was bulk-buying cheap tobacco intended for sale in other jurisdictions and selling it at full price to maximise profit.

Six days later, a raid of two addresses Khdir used as storehouses uncovered 34,430 packets of cigarettes in 18 different brands, of which 2,342 were counterfeit.

Another test purchase in March 2019 saw him selling illegal cigarettes and a raid in June with a sniffer dog uncovered a false shelf containing illegal tobacco products.

Sheffield Crown Court heard that Khadir was on bail at the time for 11 similar offences in Grimsby, for which he received a community order.

But Khdir had not completed a "single hour" of the 200 hours of unpaid work he received in May 2019.

The case was adjourned from March 11 so Kdhir could find legal representation, but he represented himself in court, on Wednesday.

He received maximum credit for his early guilty plea.

Khdir, 35, of Derby Street, Burton-on-Trent, pleaded guilty to three counts of supplying tobacco products in breach of packaging regulations, three counts of supplying products without a health warning and one count of selling goods that could be mistaken for a registered trademark, when he appeared at the magistrates court, in January.

Recorder Adrian Langdale QC said it was "a large operation that showed total disregard for public safety."

He said the counterfeit cigarettes contained “any kind of toxic chemicals” and Khdir’s customers were unaware of the “potentially huge health effects of consuming them.”

“The real danger of these offences is that they bypass the health controls applied to the sale and use of tobacco.

“This is a wholesale breach of the court’s trust and the order it has passed on you.

"You have used up all of your warnings and chances," he said, sentencing Khadir to 12 months in prison.