A trader caught with £6,000 worth of illegal tobacco and cigarettes has been jailed for 16 weeks.
Trading standards officers found tobacco with counterfeit packaging, sometimes without health warnings, during three visits to Little Shop in Bohemia Road, St Leonards.
Its owner Arras Omar Ahmed also known as Araz, repeatedly failed to turn up when East Sussex County Council took him to court, but Hastings Magistrates Court found him guilty in his absence.
Ahmed, 38, of Devonshire Place, Hastings, was initially jailed for 26 weeks, but this was reduced to 16 weeks after an appeal earlier this month.
The court heard that during the three visits – in November 2020, January 2021 and June 2021 – officers found hundreds of packets of cigarettes and pouches of tobacco with fake labels including Richmond, Marlboro, Chesterfield, Winston, Cutters Choice, Golden Virginia and Amber Leaf.
Cllr Penny di Cara, the council’s lead member for economy, said: “The supply of illegal tobacco is something we take extremely seriously, and this case shows that we will do everything in our power and persevere to ensure those putting residents at risk are brought to justice.
“Mr Ahmed’s failure to appear in court to answer Trading Standards’ charges a total of four times only led to an even harsher sentence.”
“The sale of illegal tobacco, which is not subject to the usual stringent checks and safeguards, puts people’s health further in jeopardy, risks encouraging more young people to smoke and places money into the pockets of criminal gangs.”
As well as a prison sentence, Ahmed was ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £154 and full prosecution costs of £2,887.50. The court also ordered the destruction of the cigarettes and tobacco seized.
