A rogue trader selling dodgy tobacco in his Levenshulme store stashed thousands of illegal cigarettes in a car boot. Djemil Dulovi has been disqualified from being director of a company for three years after admitting his role in the trade of illicit tobacco at Manchester Magistrates Court yesterday (January 12).
The court heard how Manchester's trading standards team received a tip-off that illicit tobacco was being sold at Superstore 1017, on Stockport Road. Officers carried out a test purchase from the store, when a pack of cigarettes was retrieved from a car parked outside the shop and sold.
In a follow-up visit, officers conducted a search of the premises, with illicit tobacco found under the counter. A further search, carried out with the help of a tobacco detection dog, discovered more than 16,000 cigarettes and 0.5kg of hand rolling tobacco stored in a parked BMW car outside.
Dulovi, of Chapel Street, Manchester, initially denied any knowledge of the car. But the 54-year-old director eventually handed over a key to the vehicle which allowed council officers to recover the illicit tobacco.
Tests carried out showed that 4,000 of the cigarettes recovered were counterfeit, as well as all of the hand-rolling tobacco. In court, Dulovi pleaded guilty to breaches of the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016, the Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Products Regulations 2015 and the Trade Marks Act 1994, on behalf of himself and the company.
The prosecution followed the initial visit to the store carried out on in May 2021, and the follow-up in June 2021, by Manchester Council's trading standards team. As well as the disqualification, Dulovi was ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid work and pay £1,000 in costs and a £95 victim surcharge.
The company - Superstore 1017 Ltd - was also ordered to pay a £2,000 fine, costs of £1,000 and a victim surcharge of £190. All items seized by the council as part of this enforcement action were forfeited and will be destroyed.
Coun Lee-Ann Igbon, Executive Member for Vibrant Neighbourhoods on Manchester Council, said: “I am incredibly pleased to see the hard work of our enforcement officers and legal team pay off through this successful prosecution. Illicit tobacco poses a genuine threat to our communities.
"It undermines legitimate businesses, as well as posing a significant risk to public health. To strengthen our communities we want to cut off access to cheap and illegal tobacco that can only endanger the lives of our residents.
"This has been a positive start to 2023, but I want to assure residents that our work will continue throughout the year as we work to stamp out crime in Manchester.” Commenting on the impact illegal tobacco can have on communities in general, Kate Pike, Trading Standards North West Lead on tobacco, added: “The lengths that people go to, to sell illegal tobacco to children, even in school uniform, are quite astonishing.
"The illegal tobacco trade is run by criminals who exploit other vulnerable people, such as care leavers and immigrants. Many of these individuals are taken advantage of and coerced into living in horrible conditions, smuggling products and acting as a front for gangs involved in organised crime.”
READ NEXT:
Police searching for 13 people after woman in her 60s is sexually assaulted while walking her dog
Police respond after Benjamin Mendy found not guilty of six counts of rape
'Evri kept ignoring me so I told them their driver set my house on fire'
Dangerous sexual predator with 'depraved desires' subjected girl to years of abuse
