A man has been given a suspended prison sentence after admitting a host of charges relating to the selling of illegal cigarettes and vapes in Spalding.
Hemen Nasradeen Salih was also fined £2,930 at Boston Magistrates’ Court on Monday for offences at the Easy Shop in Station Street and addresses in St Paul’s Road and Westlode Street in the town.
The 39-year-old from Dudley in the West Midlands admitted all 14 charges levelled against him.
At the Easy Shop all counts relate to what was found on December 12, 2023.
They included two counts of applying to goods a sign likely to be mistaken for a registered trademark, supplying cigarettes or hand rolling tobacco with a flavour, two counts of being in breach of packaging regulations, one of selling packaging without a health warning and of acquiring, using or possessing criminal property.
Four charges relate to Westlode Street on February 15 this year and include selling tobacco in breach of packaging regulations, selling it without a health warning, supplying cigarettes or tobacco with a characterising flavour and acquiring, using or possessing criminal property.
The same four charges were also brought in relation to an address on St Paul’s Road in Spalding on the same date.
As well as the 13 week prison sentence suspended for 24 months, Salih was fined £2,930.88 and ordered to pay a £145 victim surcharge.
He must also complete 240 hours of unpaid work within the next 12 months.
Lincolnshire Police and Trading Standards with Lincolnshire County Council have been cracking down on the sale of illegal cigarettes and vapes in the last 12 months.
A number of shops in Spalding, including the Easy Shop, have been served temporary closure orders during that period.
Two other shop owners were in court on the same day in relation to events in Boston.
Another temporary closure notice for The Easy Shop was withdrawn by magistrates at Lincoln recently.
Court documents state the ‘offence was withdrawn’ because ‘the landlord has already re-taken possession of the property and an order is not required.’
