Coventry man jailed over illicit cigarettes

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A Coventry man has been sentenced to 10 months in prison after being caught transporting illegal cigarettes.

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On 9 January 2018 trading standards received information that a van being driven from London to Coventry was believed to be transporting illicit tobacco.

Trading standards liaised with West Midlands Police and when the vehicle entered Coventry it was stopped and found to contain 18,000 packets of illegal cigarettes. The black market value for these cigarettes would have been about £63,000.

Driver Sardar Sattar was arrested, interviewed and a search of his house found another 950 packets of illicit cigarettes, with a black market value of around £4,275.

Sattar, aged 39, of Anglian Way, Stoke, Coventry, pleaded guilty to six offences relating to supplying illicit tobacco that breached trademarks, were not in standardised packaging, and did not have the appropriate health warnings.

Councillor Christine Thomas, chair of the Licensing and Regulatory Committee, said: “This case shows how organised the distribution of illicit tobacco has become with cigarettes being picked up from London, then stored and distributed to various shops in Coventry.

“It is through being able to react quickly with the support of our partners that this offender was caught and prosecuted.”