A SHOP owner has been jailed after being caught selling counterfeit cigarettes and tobacco.

Amanj Mawlod Tawfik, 36, was brought to justice following a trading standards investigation into his business, known as Caerphilly Market, in the town centre.

The defendant, of Bwlch Road, Cardiff was sent to prison for 18 months at Newport Crown Court.

An associate, Dana Nadir Kadir, aged 38, of Pisgah Close, Talywain, Pontypool was jailed for 18 weeks but that sentence was suspended for two years.

He was ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work, and complete a six-day rehabilitation activity requirement and pay Caerphilly council £1,200 costs.

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A third man, Arshad Ahmad Rashid, 46, of Cardiff Road, Caerphilly has to complete 100 hours of unpaid work and pay the council £1,200 costs following his conviction.

Between January 2018 and mid 2019 a business opened and operated from Cardiff Road in Caerphilly.

Officers from Caerphilly trading standards visited the shop and seized small amounts of fake cigarettes and tobacco.

The shop, on the face of it owned by a number of limited companies, was set up as a front for the sale of illegal tobacco, the court was told.

Once tobacco was seized, the apparent owners moved on, the company ceased trading and the premises closed for a short while until a new company was put in place.

A council spokesperson said: “In July 2019 trading standards discovered that Tawfik was living above the shop premises and believed that he was behind the businesses operating there.

“Over the next two years officers continued to the monitor the premises and discovered three separate companies were set up and operated selling counterfeit tobacco, with matters coming to a head in June 2021 when trading standards officers and a regional trading standards team raided the premises and seized over 3,000 counterfeit cigarettes and 3kg of counterfeit hand rolling tobacco, most concealed in a vehicle parked near the premises.

“Investigations by trading standards revealed that Tawfik had previously been convicted of selling counterfeit tobacco products, as had one of the directors of the companies, Kadir.”

The three defendants pleaded guilty to fraud.

Councillor Phillipa Leonard, the council’s cabinet member for planning and public protection, said: “This is a great result for the council’s trading standards team and reflects the hard work of the officers involved in carrying out the investigation.

“This should serve as a warning to others that directors cannot hide behind the corporate veil of limited companies.

“We will continue to crackdown on traders who supply illicit and counterfeit goods in Caerphilly county borough.”

  • Call the Caerphilly trading standards team 01443 811300, email tradingstandards@caerphilly.gov.uk or go to www.caerphilly.gov.uk to report the sale of illegal cigarettes, tobacco or vapes.