Stourbridge shopkeeper sentenced after illegal cigarettes found
A former Stourbridge shopkeeper who admitted possessing illegal cigarettes for sale has been given a suspended prison term and ordered to carry out unpaid work.
Mazar Abbas, aged 31, pleaded guilty to five offences in front of Dudley magistrates.
The court heard Dudley Council trading standards officers visited Enville Street News, in Enville Street, Stourbridge, in November 2015, accompanied by police and a tobacco sniffer dog.
A total of 265 packets of cigarettes and 41 packets of hand rolling tobacco were discovered at the shop and seized for destruction by the council.
None had been made for the UK market so they had evaded excise duty and the haul also lacked health warnings.
There were also 157 packets of counterfeit cigarettes.
Abbas, of St John Street, Dudley was handed a 12-week concurrent jail sentence for each of the five offences suspended for 12 months and ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work.
He was also ordered to pay costs of £1,000 and an £80 victim surcharge.
The court heard he was no longer involved in the running of the business.
Councillor Rachel Harris, cabinet member for health and wellbeing, said: "While all smoking kills, illegal tobacco is sold at low prices which makes it easier for children and young smokers to get hooked on smoking.
"Cheap cigarettes also make it harder for people to quit and remain smoke free.
"It also deprives legitimate businesses of revenue and robs the tax payer of money that could be spent on schools and hospitals."
