Sutton man jailed for selling fake and dangerous tobacco products

Ahmad Afsana received a ten and a half month jail term after he admitted a variety of charges against him following a trading standards raid on Sutton Mini Market in Brook Street, earlier this year.

Afsana, 26, of Outram Street, admitted five counts of possessing dangerous goods for supply, contrary to Regulation 20(1) of the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 during the hearing at Nottingham Crown Court.

He also admitted ten counts of possessing goods with a false trademark for sale, contrary to section 92 of the Trade Marks Act 1994. Nottinghamshire County Council’s trading standards team visited Sutton Mini Market in April to carry out an inspection. They recovered 6,740 cigarettes and 3.65kg - 73 pouches - of hand rolling tobacco.

They were found in various concealments around the shop, including among legitimate stock and underneath bin liners within bins.

Some of the cigarettes were not self-extinguishing, so posed a fire risk. Other samples of cigarettes and the hand rolled tobacco were found to be counterfeit.

Just a month later, officers visited the premises again and conducted a further inspection of the shop, with Afsana behind the counter. They found more than 850 cigarettes in the shop and 200g of hand rolling tobacco above a ceiling tile. A further raid on the home address of Afsana discovered 8,880 illicit cigarettes and 3kg of hand rolling tobacco recovered from a suitcase within a wardrobe. Some cigarettes would not self-extinguish. During a third visit to the shop in September, a test purchase from Afsana of a packet of cigarettes was later found to be counterfeit. When Afsana went to the rear of the store to get the cigarettes, officers recovered 4,760 cigarettes and 1.75kg of hand rolling tobacco.