A SHOP owner has been ordered to pay more than £900 after being caught with hundreds of illegal cigarettes and more than 1.5kg of tobacco hidden in his store.

Trading Standards officers from Darlington Borough Council arranged a test purchase from S V Market, in Gladstone Street, Darlington in August 2 last year following a number of complaints and a pack of counterfeit Regal King Size cigarettes was sold.

The shop was then visited by Trading Standards Officers and Police Officers on August 7 when a cigarette gantry was found to have very little legitimate stock but behind the counter were two catering size mayonnaise tubs, in which a quantity of illegal cigarettes were hidden.

In a small stockroom to at the rear of the store, officers found two bags and a box which also contained illegal cigarettes and hand rolling tobacco.

In total 6,480 illegal cigarettes and 1.65 kg of hand-rolling tobacco were discovered in the store and seized.

The store owner at the time of the offences, Hassan Ben Seghir, 34 pleaded guilty to three offences under the Trade Marks Act 1994 and two breaches of The Standardised Packaging of Tobaccos Products Regulations 2015 at Newton Aycliffe Magistrate’s Court . He was fined a total of £280 and ordered to pay costs of £600 plus a victim surcharge of £30.

The Northern Echo:

Cigarettes being sold at the store

Shaun Trevor, of Darlington Trading Standards, said: “One of our key priorities is to tackle illegal trading which undermines legitimate businesses in the borough and we will look at all opportunities and options to disrupt this illegal trade.

“As well as supporting organised crime, the supply of illicit tobacco undermines work to reduce the harm caused by smoking and therefore we will continue to work with our partners to tackle this problem.”

If you have any information which can assist Trading Standards email tradingstandards@darlington.gov.uk or report it using the online reporting form at www.darlington.gov.uk/your-council/trading-standards/illegal-tobacco/