Shopkeeper sentenced after cigarettes haul
ShopkeeperSurja Singh Sethi was fined £600 and ordered to pay £1,230 costs by Wycombe magistrates last week (Wednesday October 12) after illegal cigarettes and tobacco were found in his store.
Buckinghamshire and Surrey Trading Standards seized 100 packs of 20 cigarettes and 3kg of rolling tobacco from Mr Sethi’s Micklefield Superstore, in Gayhurst Road, High Wycombe,in February.
They were found in a filing cabinet in the storage room by Trading Standards tobacco detection dog Buster, from the specialist company Wagtail. All had foreign labelsfrom Poland, Malaysia, Germany and Holland,but did not bear the correct written or pictorial warnings that must be on products sold in the UK.
Mr Sethi admitted two charges of possessing cigarettes and tobacco that were not marked with warnings required by the Tobacco Products regulations.
He said he had boughtthe tobacco from a Polish man who came into his shop trying to sell the products. TradingStandards officers have not been able to trace the man.
Value of the cigarettes and tobacco was around £1,350, said Trading Standards, but as genuine UK labelled products they would have a value of £2,020. Magistrates ordered that the seized goods be destroyed.
Martin Phillips, Buckinghamshire County Council Cabinet Member for Community Engagement and Public Health, praised Trading Standards officers for their detection work.
He said: ‘The trade in illegal tobacco puts people’s health at risk not to mention undermining reputable businesses, and we’re committed to firm action whenever we can against those involved in it. Let this sentence be a lesson to anyone who thinks they can flout this law.’
