A convenience store owner in Wembley has been slapped with a six month custodial sentence and a nearly £2,000 fine including prosecution costs for selling illegal tobacco once again.
Retailer Jaydeep Bharat Thakkar, who owns Sangit Paan House on High Road in Wembley, has been prosecuted five times for selling smuggled tobacco products.
Brent Council on Friday (28) informed that Thakkar who owns Sangit Paan House on the High Road in Wembley has been been given a six month custodial sentence.
This is the fifth time in recent years that he has been prosecuted for selling illegal tobacco products which have been smuggled into the country, stated the council.
Brent Council’s Trading Standards Team raided the business owners premises after a tip-off on Thakkar's final day of his previous eight week suspended sentence.
The team not only found thousands of illegal products that Thakkar was planning to sell, but also found a new storage unit that he was using to hoard a large amount of illegal tobacco.
The products were found in the additional unit that the business had recently purchased, this is despite the business owner suggesting after his fourth sentence that he would be selling his shop and business.
Councillor Krupa Sheth, Cabinet Member for Environment and Enforcement, said, “I am thankful for this judgement as the business owner has been shown to repeatedly ignore or learn after previous sentences.
“It is so important as we enter a smoke free generation, that tobacco controls are complied with and I am so happy with the Trading Standards team for making sure that these illegal cigarettes are not being sold in Brent.
"The Council’s Trading Standards team are committed to tackling the illicit tobacco trade in Brent and will continue with targeted enforcement operations and may prosecute those involved in this illegal activity."
Councils have been doubling down on businesses selling illegal cigarette, vapes and other fake products.
Earlier this year, calls were raised to "name and shame" the businesses which have been prosecuted for selling illegal tobacco or vapes.
West Yorkshire Joint Services, which runs Trading Standards, told members of Bradford Council's Corporate Scrutiny Committee that court fines were often limited and not a deterrent and publicising businesses and people involved in criminal activities could be a more effective punishment than any fine handed out by the courts.
