Two store owners in Brent have been handed fines totalling more than £3,500 for possessing cigarettes without the correct health warnings in English on them.
Mohammad Hashim Aryubi , who is company director of Aryubi Express Limited, a small supermarket on Kilburn High Road and Karim Kedr, of Malvern Road, Kilburn , were ordered to pay the fines by Willesden Magistrates Court.
The court heard how in November of 2015, Brent Council Trading Standards Officers received a complaint and visited Aryubi Express Limited, where they found large numbers of foreign labelled cigarettes and hand rolling tobacco pouches on display.
In total, officers confiscated 83 pouches of hand rolling tobacco, 25 packets of shisha tobacco molasses and 133 packets of cigarettes, all without the correct health warnings in English, which is required by law.
Aryubi was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay costs of £961 for the offence by the court.
Kadir, who owns a convenience store on Kilburn Lane, was fined £1,100 and ordered to pay costs of £931 by the court when they heard that in December of 2015 Trading Standards Officers visited his store, and confiscated 504 packs of cigarettes and 159 packs of shisha tobacco, all without or with incorrect health warnings in English.
Speaking after the verdicts, Cllr Michael Pavey, cabinet member for stronger communities, said: "We will not stand for anyone selling illegal tobacco in our communities.
"All tobacco must be correctly labelled and displayed. We will not allow businesses to break these rules to increase their profits.
"People who are dealing in illegal tobacco products should take these latest prosecutions as a further warning. Our trading standards officers are working hard to keep these illegal products off the streets and are cracking down on the businesses and individuals that flout the law."
