A Blackburn shop keeper repeatedly sold counterfeit and non-compliant cigarettes from his family’s newsagents.
Preston Crown Court heard how Aktarali Chopdat, who was running Bastwell Stores on Whalley New Road, was visited by the council’s Trading Standards team in February 2017 where a packet of non-UK compliant Amber Leaf tobacco was purchased for £12 instead of the recommended retail price of £22.
The officers found and seized further non-compliant cigarettes and rolling tobacco worth £6,136.50.
Chopdat was issued with a warning.
However, a year later in March 2018, Bastwell Stores was again visited by the council’s Trading Standards team and counterfeit cigarettes were found along with other non-compliant products.
Chopdat was working behind the counter at the time, with officers seizing £4,381 worth of goods.
He was prosecuted and fined £300.
A further search was carried out on March 12 2020 and even more non-compliant and counterfeit cigarettes were found to be being sold in the shop.
Tobacco worth £2,873 was seized and £9,009.32 in cash.
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Defending Chopdat, Patrick Williamson said the store had been in the family since the 1980s, but Chopdat no longer worked there.
He said his client was no longer a director of the company, but according to Companies House the 61-year-old still holds that position.
He said: “There was a desire for cheap tobacco products and having been warned once he stopped selling them for a few months but then started again.
“It would seen that he started selling them again due to a response and demand from the local community.”
Blackburn with Darwen Council, who brought the case, have applied for £16,686 in costs to be made as a result of the prosecution.
The honorary recorder of Preston, Judge Robert Altham, has the power to disqualify Chopdat from being the director of any company in the future, and adjourned the case for sentence today (Thursday April 13).
Chopdat, of Churchhill Road, Blackburn, was given an 18-month sentence, suspended for 20 months. He has also been fined £2,000.
The company, Bastwell Stores, was fined £1,000.
Chopdat and the company have been ordered to pay £4,000 in costs.
The fines must be paid within 56 days or Chopdat will be jailed for three months.
He must also complete 200 hours od community service and has been disqualified from being a company director for three years.
A deprivation order has also been made for the items seized.
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