VIDEO: Wolverhampton shops in £150K bust may lose licences

Euro Shop and International Mini Market, known as Sam Euro Style, were both raided by police and trading standards officers and found to have large quantities of non-duty paid and counterfeit tobacco and cigarettes, and non-duty paid alcohol.

Raids of both premises on July 17 netted the biggest ever haul of illicit booze and cigarettes, with an estimated £150,000 of goods seized from both stores.

On Thursday, Wolverhampton council's licensing sub-committee will decide whether to amend or revoke the licences of the Newhampton Road West stores.

The shops, which are across the road from each other, were notified of the review of their licences shortly after the raids in July.

As part of the review, the panel will consider submissions from West Midlands Police and Public Health, who both support revoking the licences.

The review report for Sam Euro Style says the July raid netted goods worth an estimated £100,000. An exact figure cannot be provided as trading standards is still totting them up.

Between August 29, 2014 and April 23 this year 32,176 non-compliant cigarettes were seized from the premises, along with 1.55kg (3.4lb) of hand-rolling tobacco, and 11 bottles of non-duty paid vodka.

Staff were also found selling alcohol outside the times allowed on their licence.

The licence holder is named as Zemnako Azad Salih, and the report says he has 'shown disregard to the law and continually failed to adhere to the licence conditions'.

A petition signed by 220 people has been submitted to the sub-committee, which says the council should keep the store 'in service with an alcohol licence active for the convenience of the people of Whitmore Reans community'.

Euro Shop had already been raided a number of times, with 62,627 illegal cigarettes seized between August 29, 2014 and April 2 this year, as well as 22.15kg (48.8lb) of hand-rolling tobacco and 66 bottles of non-duty paid alcohol.

In the July 17 raid it is estimated £50,000 worth of illicit cigarettes, tobacco and alcohol was seized, the report says.

The licence holder is named as Soma Khalid Jasim, and the report said: "The premises licence holder has shown a disregard to the law and has continually failed to adhere to her licence conditions."

Euro Shop's review is being brought on the grounds of prevention of crime and disorder, as well as protecting children from harm.

Trading standards had received complaints about the store selling alcohol and cigarettes to children, and on March 26 child volunteers in a covert operation were able to buy cigarettes and vodka-based alco-pop.

The review application for both premises asks the licensing authority to 'give serious consideration to the revocation of the premises licence'.

Earlier this year, the Express & Star exposed the illegal tobacco market in the Black Country.

Undercover investigators visited dozens of shops and found 25 prepared to sell cheap and untaxed cigarettes and counterfeit tobacco.

When these samples were sent off for analysis, experts found they included rat droppings, poisonous chemicals, dead insects, and asbestos.

One expert said smoking one of these cigarettes was as harmful as smoking 10 normal filter tips.

They also found fake cigarettes and loose tobacco being sold at under a third of the value the real products would cost.

Evidence was passed on to Trading Standards departments at councils who investigated further.

Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) estimates £2 billion was lost in tax receipts last year because of tobacco smuggling.

In the West Midlands that equates to £200m in lost tax – and much more for the 5,500 small retailers in lost profits.