A shopkeeper who sold illegal cigarettes, vapes and tobacco products from a network of shops across three counties has been jailed following investigations by Derby City Council Trading Standards and Lincolnshire County Council Trading Standards.
Amin Ismail Amin, who owned businesses in Lincolnshire, Derbyshire and Birmingham, appeared at Derby Crown Court on 12 March, where he was sentenced to three years and eight months in prison and ordered to pay a total of £20,000 in costs. He had previously pleaded guilty to offences under the Trade Marks Act 1994 and the Tobacco Related Products Regulations 2016.
The conviction follows an investigation by Derby City Council Trading Standards into offences Amin had committed in 2022, when he was already serving a suspended sentence for previous illicit tobacco offences.
Some of the £15,000 of illegal tobacco seized by Derby Trading Standards (image credit: Derby City Council)
Officers from Derby Trading Standards seized 24,700 cigarettes and 6.4kg of hand rolling tobacco from premises in Derby during that raid, while Officers from Lincolnshire County Council Trading Standards uncovered illicit vapes, cigarettes and tobacco worth £3,000 during an inspection of Amin’s shop in Boston, Lincolnshire, in February 2023.
Amin had gone to great lengths to conceal the illegal products, some of which were found in an electronic ‘hide’ disguised as a wall.
Andy Wright, Principal Trading Standards Officer at Lincolnshire County Council, said: “This prosecution and substantial fine is the latest in a long line of enforcement action and should act as a warning to rogue traders – we won’t stop until the scourge of illicit products is stubbed out for good.
“Shops selling these illegal goods contribute to anti-social behaviour and are often a front for other serious criminality such as illegal working, and this was the case here, as the person found in charge of the shop had no right to work in the UK.
“In most towns across Lincolnshire these shops are found in areas where the public have reported a fear of crime, anti-social behaviour, and where women in particular feel vulnerable. There is a statistical significance in the presence of these shops and such reports from members of the public.
“The products themselves are often dangerous. Fires caused by smoking materials result in more deaths than any other type of fire. What’s more, cigarettes which are illegally manufactured and traded rarely comply with fire safety standards and usually lack the self-extinguishing feature of legal ones, making them even more hazardous.
“We have also found that shops selling illegal cigarettes and vapes are 14 times more likely to sell them to people under 18 than shops selling legal products.”
Councillor Shiraz Khan, Cabinet Member for Housing, Property and Regulatory Services at Derby City Council, said: “As a council we have a duty of care to our citizens, and this sentencing should serve as a reminder that we are prepared to use whatever avenues necessary to keep our citizens safe from illicit products.
“I’m delighted with the work of our Trading Standards team as they continue to clamp down on the sale of dangerous tobacco products.”
Amin was also disqualified from being a director of any limited company for 10 years, and will serve up to half of his sentence in custody before being released on licence.
