Another retailer found guilty of selling illicit tobacco has been jailed.

Niaz Amadamin, a retailer from Gainsborough in Lincolnshire, has been sentenced to nine months in prison for the possession and sale of unsafe, counterfeit and non-English labelled illicit tobacco products.

His sentence was reduced from 12 months after he pleaded guilty to selling illicit tobacco at his European Foods store.

Lincolnshire Trading Standards raided the store in May 2014, uncovering thousands of illegal cigarettes and 33 pouches of hand rolling tobacco hidden in a building to the rear.

Ian Newell, business and public protection manager at Lincolnshire County Council, said: “As always, we welcome this sentence as part of our ongoing fight against illegal tobacco. This has been a particularly complex case for our officers and it’s been very rewarding for them to see the successful completion of this prosecution.

“Illegal cigarettes and tobacco products put people’s health and even their lives at risk and that’s why we are so pleased with this sentence. It sends out a very clear message that selling these products is a serious crime with tough penalties.”

Last month, an illicit tobacco trader from Peterborough, who evaded more than £168,000 in excise duty by repeatedly selling illegal tobacco, was sentenced to two years and eight months in jail.