A Wembley shopkeeper has been fined after being discovered selling illegal cigarettes and tobacco products, for the second time. Additionally, Jaydeep Bharat Thakker has been ordered to do 100 hours of community service after the Brent Trading Standards Team discovered the products for sale at Sangit Paan House in Wembley High Road.
Willesden Magistrates Court heard trading standards officers seized 260 packs of Chaini Khaini oral tobacco, 74 packets of cigarettes (20s), 67 Beedi’s of different brands and 104 Chewing Tobacco packs that didn't have the necessary health warnings on them.
Thakkar claims he wasn't aware it was illegal to sell oral tobacco and believed the warnings on the cigarettes was sufficient.
He was ordered to pay £557 costs, while Sangit Paan House Limited was fined £600 plus costs of £557 and a victim surcharge of £60. Thakkar had been convicted of a similar offence in October last year.
Cllr Muhammed Butt, the leader of Brent Council, said: “This business owner showed a blatant disregard for the law, having previously been convicted and is now paying the price for his actions. The sentence showed how seriously the court took this matter by giving Thakker a community penalty.”
