Leeds shopkeeper claimed pandemic poverty after £163,000 worth of illegal cigarettes and £39,000 cash found

Saman Amin ran the Chapel Street Convenience Store in Halton, but during checks by Trading Standards was found to have 290 packets of illicit cigarettes, and 62 50-gramme pouches of rolling tobacco under a front counter.

Leeds Crown Court heard that officers then searched a store room in found a further 8,655 packets of cigarettes and 1,918 pouches of tobacco. Cash totalling £39,425 was also found and confiscated by police.

The court was told that 43-year-old Amin had run the shop since 2016. He accepted he was selling illegal products, but only for around four weeks. He initially tried to claim they did not belong to him, but a former friend.

Prosecutor Andrews Stranex said that following investigation work by Trading Standards, they located the second man but he was not in the country during the relevant time period, which was supported by the stamp in his passport.

Amin, of Stanley Road, Wakefield, admitted eight offences of possessing goods with a false trademark, one of supplying tobacco in breach of packaging regulations and supplying tobacco without the proper health warnings.

Samreen Akhtar, mitigating, said: “He accepted he embarked on a lucrative enterprise. He started running the store in October 2016, and prior to the pandemic it did relatively well, but he ran into financial difficulties and struggled to pay his rent, the shop and associated bills.

"He started selling the tobacco products that he got from another shop to make a profit and cover his overheads.”

She said Amin had come to the UK from Iraq in 2004 and had no previous convictions. He sold the shop after his arrest and is now a qualified gas fitter.

Judge Mushtaq Khokhar questioned his motive being his financial struggles, claiming it was widely known that similar shops and supermarkets thrived during the pandemic lockdown.

He said: “The excuse you put forward is that you were someone who suffered during the pandemic. Even if that was the case, I can’t see how someone like you would act in committing these offences to make up the shortfall.”

He gave him a 10-month jail sentence, suspended for 18 months, and 200 hours of unpaid work.