Royal Greenwich Trader Fined After Illicit Tobacco Found Hidden In Printer

* Seeraj Raid - The Sniffer Dog

by our RBG Correspondent | Woolwich

A Plumstead trader who hid counterfeit Polish cigarettes in a disused printer behind the counter has been fined £1000 and ordered to pay costs totaling £2412, after they were uncovered by a sniffer dog in a Council operation against illicit tobacco.

Sadiq Jan, manager of Seeray Off Licence in Bannockburn Road SE18, pleaded guilty on 24 August 2015 at Bexley Magistrates Court to four offences relating to the storage and supply of counterfeit cigarettes. He was fined a total of £1000 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £2,382.00 along with a £30 victim surcharge.

The court heard that the seized tobacco products were not compliant with fire safety standards and constituted a serious fire risk to anyone buying and smoking them.

In addition to the counterfeits, the stash also included ten packs of Marlboro Gold intended for the Lithuanian market. Although genuine, their health warnings were in Lithuanian – in contradiction of laws requiring tobacco health messages to be printed in English. Those cigarettes were also tested and found to be in contravention of the required UK fire safety standards.

None of the products seized had had the correct tobacco duty paid on them.

The illicit tobacco was detected at the store by a sniffer dog during an inspection by Royal Borough of Greenwich Trading Standards Officers in January 2015. In interviews with officers, Jan confirmed that friends would buy cigarettes for him when travelling to Eastern Europe. He also confirmed that he was aware the cigarettes were non-duty paid, and that some of them were counterfeit.

The prosecution is part of the Royal Borough of Greenwich’s ongoing campaign against illicit tobacco sales. The ‘Keep it Out’ campaign was launched last month in partnership with five other South East London boroughs to step up action against the sale of illegal tobacco, after a survey of 1,700 smokers found that an estimated 114 million illegal cigarettes, with a street value of more than £22m, were sold annually in the region.

Cllr Jackie Smith, the Royal Borough’s Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Environment, said: “People who are tempted to buy tobacco ‘under the counter’ or from illicit sources need to understand that they are buying unlicensed and untested products which pose a real risk to their health and – through the fire risk – to the health of their families.

“They should also recognise that to buy such products, and to avoid the payment of lawful tax and duties is to support networks involved in wide-ranging counterfeiting and criminality.

“I would urge anyone with information about such products being offered for sale, to contact us anonymously through the Keep It Out website or hotline.”

Cllr Denise Scott-McDonald, Cabinet Member for Community Wellbeing and Public Health said: “This case underlines the dangers associated with the sale of illegal tobacco. Our campaigns in Greenwich have successfully reduced the level of smoking in the borough. This makes it all the more important for us to tackle illegal tobacco because readily available cheap tobacco, sold without restrictions, encourages young people to start smoking and discourages current smokers from quitting.”

· The South East London 'Keep It Out' campaign has a page on the website www.keep-it-out.co.uk through which the public can report illegal activity anonymously. The site also gives information about the dangers of illegal tobacco and action taken by local councils and other agencies against suppliers of illegal tobacco.

Greenwich residents can also report the sale of illegal tobacco by contacting the Citizens Advice consumer helpline on 03454 04 05 06 or by calling Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

For help to quit smoking, ring the Royal Borough’s free Stop Smoking hotline on 0800 587 5833 or text ‘Quit’ to 60060 or email support@greenwichstopsmoking.org.uk.

* The Sniffer Dog goes to work.

* Hidden Away: Tobacco found by the sniffer dog

* Hidden Away: Tobacco found by the sniffer dog