Man sentenced after £100,000 of illegal tobacco seized in Salisbury

A dealer has been given a suspended prison sentence after more than £100,000 of illegal tobacco was seized.

Amang Mohammed, 29, from Southampton, was selling the illegal product at Bucharest Mini Market in Brown Street, Salisbury.

Wiltshire Council’s trading standards team found that the tobacco was not being labeled with the required health warnings or in standardized packaging. It was also found that most of them are counterfeit.

Mohammed, who pleaded guilty to 14 tobacco-related offences, was given a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, at Salisbury Crown Court on July 4.

Illegal tobacco had previously been seized from the shop in 2020 and Mohammed was given a written warning.

But during a raid in April 2023, officers discovered the goods were still on display and hidden in the premises.

Mohammed’s car keys were also found in a nearby bin, with more tobacco stored in his vehicle.

Trading standards officers also found a key to a storage facility in Southampton where around £105,000 worth of tobacco was being stored.

After receiving new complaints about the sale of illegal tobacco at the store, an undercover officer made a test purchase on May 31, 2023.

Bank accounts showed Mohammed received cash deposits of more than £100,000 between July 2020 and April 2023 for the products.

Councilor Dominic Muns said: “Our trading standards team are doing everything they can to protect our residents from harm by prosecuting these traders and stopping these illegal sales.

“Furthermore, counterfeit tobacco does not always meet self-extinguishing requirements, and counterfeit cigarettes have previously been linked to more deaths from home fires.”

Mr Muns said illegal tobacco is not regulated or manufactured to the same standards as regular tobacco and is often found to contain higher levels of harmful substances.

“We take these types of businesses seriously and the sale of such products will not be tolerated in Wiltshire,” he added.