Supercigs Convenience Store in Gwynedd, North Wales, has been ordered to pay nearly £13,000 of fines and costs for the sale and supply of illicit tobacco and e-cigarettes.
Idres Khder, sole director of the business appeared at Caernarfon Magistrates Court on 11 September 2024 and pleaded guilty to all five charges brought against him.
The court fined the store a total of £9,062.20. The business was also ordered to pay costs of £1,751.48 to the council, and a £2,000 victim surcharge, amounting to a total of £12,813.68.
Undercover officers working with Gwynedd Council’s Trading Standards Unit carried out a test purchase at the premises on 26 September 2023, which resulted in the shop selling illegal tobacco to the officer.
A later visit to the premises on the same day resulted in a seizure of 225 packets of illicit cigarettes, 63 pouches of illicit hand-rolling tobacco, 519 unauthorised disposable vapes and nicotine salts and 20 unauthorised branded Prime squishes.
Three charges were made under the Trade Marks Act 1994, one charge of Fraudulent Trading under the Companies Act 2006, and a further charge under the Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhaling Products Regulations 2019.
Councillor Dafydd Meurig Gwynedd Council’s cabinet member for the environment said: “This case shows that we take that responsibility seriously, and I’m pleased to see a successful trading standards prosecution in relation to the sale and supply of illicit tobacco and e-cigarettes. The sentencing reflects the seriousness of these offences.
“Trade in illicit tobacco and e-cigarettes supports crime, damages legitimate businesses, undermines public health and facilitates the supply of tobacco and e-cigarettes to young people.”
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