A SHOP owner sold illegal tobacco to a test purchaser hired by a tobacco corporation in a sting operation, a licensing review has heard.

When officers later visited the Best One shop on Morris Green Lane, Daubhill, Bolton, they found packets of illicit cigarettes behind the counter.

Bolton Council has conducted a review into the premises licence of shop owner Ziryan Salah which reviewed all options including revocation.

The panel heard that a test purchase was made at the shop on August 7 where an officer purchased some Amber Leaf tobacco, costing £17.

The purchase was made by a contractor working for international tobacco manufacturer JTI.

The product was only intended for market outside the UK.

The Bolton News: Best One

On August 13 last year officers from Bolton trading standards visited and found 10 packets of Marlboro cigarettes on display on the tobacco gantry.

Again these products were not UK duty paid.

A report to a licensing panel deliberating on Mr Salah’s case said: “It would be very apparent to someone in the business of selling tobacco that the products were not for legal sale in the UK.”

Mr Salah’s shop was the subject of a similar trading standards visit in 2016 when 3.54 kilos of illicit rolling tobacco and 4,500 illegal cigarettes.were found.

Solicitor Victoria Cartmel, for Mr Salah, said: “This a small shop for the local community with a very mixed customer base.

“Mr Salah has been connected to the shop since 2016.

“When the previous illicit cigarettes found at the premises it was an issue with his then business partner as a result Mr Salah took over the licence on his own.

“My client is 36, he’s from Iraq originally and was granted asylum in 2002.

“He is a father-of-two who has worked very hard to set up this business, which is the sole source of income for his family.

“There are two problems noted in the report.

“The was a test purchase of Amber Leaf. The tobacco had been given him to pay back a debt.

“He realises now what a massive error that was.

“He had purchased the Marlboro cigarettes at the airport tax free for 107 Euros.

“These were left in the store room and the shop staff had put them out.

“There was only a very small amount of illicit tobacco out. This shouldn’t have happened.

“The implications of him losing his licence are massive and the thought of not being able to run his business are causing him great stress.

“It’s a condition of his wife’s visa that he has full-time employment.

“If his licence is revoked she will have to go back to Iraq with his children.

“He’s done a very, very silly thing, a stupid mistake which has cost him dearly already.

“He understands the consequences of any further issues.”

She suggested to the panel that a suitable punishment for the transgressions would be a relatively short suspension of his premises licence for a possibly two weeks.

The panel will inform Mr Salah of their decision by post and will then publish it on the council’s website.