Lincolnshire Trading Standards has secured a prosecution against Amir Ahmadi of the Super Sam Mini Market on the city’s High Street.
Ahmadi, 44 of Maxwell Way, Sheffield, was sentenced at Lincoln Crown Court on 2 February after he was found selling illegal cigarettes from the High Street shop on a number of occasions between February and August 2020.
After Lincolnshire Trading Standards’ first raid of the shop in February 2020, Ahmadi was interviewed under caution by officers, and he promised them he would not return to selling illegal cigarettes at the Super Sam store.
However, when officers returned less than two months later, Amir Ahmadi was once again behind the counter selling the illicit wares. On a further two visits that year, officers from Lincolnshire Trading Standards and Lincolnshire Police seized over 2,300 illegal cigarettes from the shop where Amir Ahmadi was working.
Lincolnshire Trading Standards made the landlord of the shop aware of the illegal activity taking place on the premises, and the tenants were evicted.
After pleading guilty to the offences at Lincoln Crown Court, Ahmadi was sentenced to two years custody, suspended for two years; a 12-month community order with a 35-days rehabilitation activity requirement; and 80 hours of unpaid work.
Andy Wright, Principal Lincolnshire Trading Standards Officer, said:
“The business Ahmadi was working in had no legitimate purpose, and was set up simply to sell illegal tobacco products.
“After our first raid, Amir Ahmadi was given a chance to leave the store, and not return to selling illegal cigarettes. And it later emerged he has been convicted of this activity before, back in 2015, so he was well aware that what he was doing was wrong. Instead he chose to go back to the store and continue pedalling these dangerous and illegal goods.
“The judge felt suspending Ahmadi’s sentence for the maximum two years would provide him with one final opportunity to change his ways. If he’s brought before the court at any point over the next 24 months he’ll be hauled straight to prison.
“Illegal cigarettes really aren’t worth the risks: if they’re counterfeit, you have no idea what might be inside them; they present a much greater fire risk because they often can’t self-extinguish; and buying them funds organised criminal gangs and brings anti-social behaviour to your neighbourhood.”
The court also ordered the forfeiture of the illegal cigarettes seized from Amir Ahmadi to Lincolnshire Trading Standards. They will now be destroyed.
If you are concerned that a business is selling illegal cigarettes or vapes, you can report this to Trading Standards through the Citizens Advice consumer service. Visit www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer or call 0808 223 1133. Or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111, crimestoppers-uk.org.