A local business’s cash has gone up in smoke as it’s handed a £1,650 fine, with the owner having to serve a custodial sentence for possessing over 16,500 illegal cigarettes.
This follows a huge seizure of illicit tobacco and smoking products from Sangit Paan House Ltd by Brent Council's Trading Standard team. The shop’s stock was made a lot lighter as officers also seized 255 packets of counterfeit Benson & Hedges cigarettes.
Mr Thakker, the director of Sangit Paan House Ltd, said that he would buy the cigarettes from students travelling from India at cut rates and resell them in his shop for a profit of 50p or £1 each. The sale of illicit tobacco has serious harmful effects to residents as the product is cheaper and therefore more accessible, allowing for increased consumption of tobacco.
Councillor Harbi Farah, Cabinet Member for Safer Communities and Public Protection, said: