Fake cigarettes found in shop toilet during raid

Officers found £12,000 worth of counterfeit tobacco and illegal vapes

A shopkeeper has been stripped of his alcohol licence after more than 8,000 counterfeit cigarettes were found during a raid on the shop.

Asso Mohammed Ali, the licence holder for Ela Polski Sklep, in Manningham, had his licence rescinded due to what was described as a "blatant disregard of the law".

It came after West Yorkshire Trading Standards visited the property in February and found £12,000 worth of counterfeit tobacco and illegal vapes.

Mr Ali did not attend the meeting, and his licence was revoked in his absence.

Asso Mohammed Ali has been stripped of his license to sell alcohol

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Bradford Council's District Licensing Panel was told Trading Standards had received complaints about the business on Oak Lane selling illicit tobacco.

During a a test purchase in November 2023 an undercover officer witnessed a customer buying 10 packets of counterfeit cigarettes for for £160.

When officers visited the shop again in February they found illegal cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco "hidden in a custom-made concealment built into the sales counter and in a box in the toilet at the rear of the store".

Officers also found more than 250 disposable electronic cigarettes with a tank capacity greater than the maximum 2ml permitted on sale in the shop.

Their report concluded: "The retail price of these items is around £12,000 which demonstrates the level of criminality involved."

Trading Standards argued at a meeting on Thursday the sale of illegal cigarettes showed Mr Ali could not be trusted to hold an alcohol licence.

David Mullins of Trading Standards said: "By selling counterfeit products he has shown a blatant disregard for the law and licensing objectives."

Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here.