A corner shop was taking £1,200 a day selling counterfeit cigarettes and tobacco, a court has heard. When trading standards officers raided the premises they found a stash of fake fags hidden in a secret compartment behind guttering at the rear of the premises.
Swansea Crown Court heard the men running the shop – Shakawan Ali and Rebin Sabir – were “trusted individuals” who had been placed in the store to “manage the existing criminal business” by someone higher up in the organisation. Both men have been jailed for their parts in the profitable operation.
Lee Reynolds, prosecuting, said in March and April 2022 a series of test purchases were carried out at a shop called Swansea Market at 17 St Helen’s Road in Swansea which, at the time, was being run by the defendant Ali. On each occasion packets of counterfeit cigarettes purporting to be Richmond and Lambert and Butler brands were sold to the undercover purchasers, on occasions by Ali himself. A search of the premises was subsequently carried out by trading standards officers and the court heard that while the cigarette sales unit in the shop – a unit known as a gantry – was almost empty, a large quantity of cigarettes were found hidden in a compartment behind guttering at the rear of the premises.
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A search of Ali’s house was then carried out and officers found two large bags and a box which were full of tobacco products as well as £4,845 in cash hidden underneath a bedside cabinet. Officers also recovered a notebook containing lists and numbers. The court heard the recovered tobacco was sent to the respective brand holders for review and confirmed as counterfeit, or as not intended for the UK market. Other tobacco recovered did not have the appropriate plain packaging and health warnings and as such did not comply with UK legislation.
The prosecutor said Ali was interviewed and gave officers a prepared statement in which he said he had been working “informally” at the shop for his friend Mohammed Abdula Kocher for two or three months and had been asked to store various goods at his home and sell types of tobacco but was not aware they were counterfeit. He said he was not aware of the tobacco being stored behind the gutters. Ali then remained silent through the interview and did not answer questions. In his second interview he again provided a prepared statement saying he had no knowledge of any notebook and said the cash found under his bedside cabinet were the takings from the shop which he had taken home for safe keeping.
The court heard the “street value” of the tobacco and cigarettes seized was approximately £31,941 and that based on the financial details in the notebook the illegal sales of tobacco varied between £600 and £1,300 per day with an average of around £1,200. Read about a criminal gang which was running a multi-million-pound operation selling counterfeit cigarettes and nitrous oxide canisters through a network of corner shops in south Wales
The court heard that at some stage following this initial raid on the shop the running of the store was taken over by the co-defendant Sabir. Further test purchases were conducted during May and July 2022 – with the cigarettes being sold by Sabir – and then on July 18 trading standards officers attended at the premises with tobacco detection sniffer dogs and South Wales Police officers. No tobacco products were located on site but phones and paperwork were seized and searches of vehicles belonging to Sabir and his then partner Stacey Duckfield which were parked outside the shop uncovered quantities of cigarettes.
The prosecutor said the seized tobacco was again sent off for testing and was found to be counterfeit or not for sale in the UK. A search warrant was subsequently executed at Sabir’s home address and led to tobacco, a notebook, and paperwork relating to Swansea Market being seized. A review of the notebook and paperwork confirmed that illicit tobacco products with a value of £84,000 had been sold during the previous 10-week period. When Sabir’s personal mobile phone was analysed it was found to contain messages referring to the order and sale of tobacco, photos of tobacco and vapes at Swansea Market, images of further notebooks listing tobacco sales, and videos of the St Helen’s Road shop including a concealed hiding place.
The court heard Sabir answered “no comment” to all questions asked in his first interview but in his second interview – conducted after his phone had been examined – he said he had only been working at the shop on occasions to help his friend Mohammed Kocher who he said was “like the boss”. He denied the tobacco found in the vehicles was his and he accused officers of planting it there. He said all the tobacco at his home was for his personal use and had been given to him by friends from Kurdistan and Pakistan. The court heard he was unable to explain why he had photos of notebooks on his phone and he said the videos of concealments found at Swansea Market were there so that he could appreciate the workmanship.
Mr Reynolds said it was accepted neither defendant had owned the business but he said they were “both trusted individuals placed to manage the existing criminal business for a period of time” by someone higher up in the organisation. He said it was a “very successful and lucrative cash business” taking in the region of £1,200 per day on the defence’s own admission, and said while neither defendant was at the top of the organisation their roles were significant and more than mere workers who would have no knowledge of the overall scale of the operation or extent of the fraudulent activity. For the latest court reports, sign up to our crime newsletter here
Shakawan Otham Ali, 35, formerly of New Road, Skewen, and Mansel Street, Swansea, but now of no fixed abode, and Rebin Dhair Sabir, 35, formerly of Glanmor Crescent, Uplands, Swansea, but now of Parc Prison, Bridgend, had both previously pleaded guilty to multiple offences of selling illegal tobacco products when they returned to the dock for sentencing.
With discounts for their guilty pleas Judge Catherine Richards sentenced Ali to 12 months in prison and Sabir to nine months in prison. Sabir’s term will run consecutively to the current sentence he is serving.
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