A SHOP worker who sold illegal tobacco from a Long Eaton store has been told to pay almost £800 in fines and costs.
Adil Zangana, of Chaucer Terrace, Derby, appeared before the city's magistrates and admitted one charge of selling and three counts of possessing illicit foreign-labelled tobacco.
The court heard that trading standards officials from Derbyshire County Council had test-purchased a packet of 20 cigarettes last October from the shop in Tamworth Road after receiving complaints from customers.
The West brand cigarettes turned out to be illegal because they did not carry the health warnings required by UK law.
Officials returned to the shop last December and seized the rest of his stock, including nine 50g pouches of Golden Virginia hand-rolling tobacco, seven packets of 20 Palace cigarettes and 10 packets of 20 Marlboro Original cigarettes, with warnings in Spanish and German.
Zangana, who represented himself in court, said he had not worked in a shop before and did not know the cigarettes were illegal.
He added that he had worked at the shop to help his friend, the shopkeeper, and that he had kept the money he made from the sales himself.
The council had no evidence that the shopkeeper knew about the illegal tobacco.
Zangana was fined £110 for the sale offence and £50 for each of the possession charges. He was ordered to pay £500 costs to Derbyshire County Council, the prosecuting authority, plus a £26 victim surcharge.
Magistrates made an order for the unlawful tobacco to be destroyed and told Zangana to pay the £786 he owed at a rate of £10 a fortnight from his Jobseeker's Allowance.
Councillor Dave Allen, the authority's cabinet member for health and communities, said: "These tobacco products did not comply with UK law, and warnings could not be understood by customers.
"The tobacco had also been brought into the country illegally with no UK duty paid on it.
"This enabled the tobacco to be sold at a price which massively undercuts reputable retailers who follow the rules and sell duty-paid products.
"For example, the West cigarettes were sold at £3 a packet against a real price of around £7 to £8.
"That's why we take a consistently hard line against retailers who break the law and threaten the livelihoods of honest businesses."
Complaints to trading standards about the sale of illegal tobacco doubled from 30 in 2011 to 60 last year, leading to a 22% rise in seizures of counterfeit tobacco in 2012.
Anyone with information about the sale of illegal tobacco should call Citizens' Advice Consumer Service on 08456 040506.
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