Police raid South Shields shop at Laygate, finding thousands of illegal cigarettes, chewing tobacco and snuff
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Noor Abas Miralikhail, 32, had 3,760 contraband cigarettes at his Madina Food Store at Laygate, South Shields, during a search on July 8, 2023.
Miralikhail, of Marshall Wallis Road, Chichester, South Shields, was also stocking 250g of hand rolling tobacco and 26 illicit chewing tobacco or snuff products.
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Hide AdHis seized mobile phone also contained messages to associates negotiating prices, South Tyneside Council prosecutor Victoria Molloy said.
The raid came two years after he handed over £44,000 of illegal stock to trading standards officers during a similar operation targeting counterfeit goods.
The value of stock recovered during his latest setback was £4,197, borough magistrates were told.
Ms Molloy said: “The trading standards department received intelligence from the public and the Intellectual Property Office, alleging that sales of illicit tobacco products were being made from the premises.
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Hide Ad“The defendant is known to the local authority to be the owner of the store based upon previous encounters with him.
“Food registration documentation in relation to the shop was also applied for and signed in his name as the owner.
“As a result of on-going concerns, a test purchase attempt of suspected illicit tobacco was made on Sunday, May 21, 2023.
“The operative successfully purchased one packet of Lambert & Butler, which was later confirmed to be counterfeit.
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Hide Ad“On July 8, 2023, as part of a joint operation with Northumbria Police and Newcastle trading standards department, officers from South Tyneside trading standards department entered the premises.
“They seized a quantity of illicit tobacco products. A randomly selected number of packets of the cigarettes were identified by the brand holders as being counterfeit items.”
The prosecutor added: “Cigarettes, chewing tobacco and hand rolling tobacco failed to comply with labelling issues.
“All of the chewing tobacco or hand rolling tobacco and some of the cigarettes were not in the required standardised packaging colour.
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Hide Ad“The chewing tobacco was for oral use which was not permitted in UK law.
“The defendant’s mobile telephone was seized. It showed WhatsApp messages to and from a large number of individuals.
“They appeared to show negotiations on the price of illicit tobacco together with ‘price lists’.
“There were also photographs of tobacco products, bank card details and other evidence which alluded to a continued supply of illegal tobacco products.”
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Hide AdMiralikhail pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing goods with a false trademark for sale and two of producing or supplying a tobacco product not carrying a health warning.
He also admitted one count each of producing or supplying tobacco for oral use, producing or supplying a tobacco product in breach of packaging regulations, and being a trader engaging in unfair commercial practices.
Geoffrey Forrester, defending, told magistrates: “I would invite you to adjourn for reports.”
Magistrates adjourned the case and Miralikhai will be sentenced at the same court on Tuesday, April 15.