A shopkeeper from Newcastle-under-Lyme has been fined and given a 12 month Community Order for selling illicit tobacco. 

Hardi Saleh, owner of Newcastle Mini Market, pleaded guilty to 14 trading standards offences at North Staffordshire Justice Centre on 9 January. 

He was ordered to do 220 hours unpaid work and pay costs of £2,245.

Officers from Staffordshire County Council's Trading Standards service seized illegal cigarettes and tobacco during two inspections last year, with a retail value of just over £8000.

The 47-year-old of Pear Tree Lane in Newcastle was selling packs of cigarettes for as little as £5 per pack when officers raided the shop.

Victoria Wilson, Cabinet Member with responsibility for Trading Standards at Staffordshire County Council said: "Illicit and counterfeit tobacco damages communities and harms legitimate businesses and we will take action against traders who knowingly sell it.

"This sentence should act as a reminder to others selling such products that we take the issue seriously."

In the UK, it is estimated that about one in ten of all cigarettes and half of all tobacco are not duty paid. 

The illegal trade in tobacco also has strong links to organised crime and illicit tobacco has a devastating effect on health.

During recent years, Staffordshire County Council's Trading Standards have uncovered over three million illegal cigarettes and almost 200kg of illegal tobacco with an estimated street value of £1,026,476.

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