A Spalding shop found to be selling illegal alcohol and cigarettes looks likely to lose its licence.
The premises licence at the 7 Day Euro Shop, Westlode Street, has only been held by Ali Hussein Hassani since March.
But Chief Constable Bill Skelly has requested a review after three visits by police which uncovered evidence of breaches.
The application for review by members of the South Holland District Council licencing committee, says the management had been keeping smuggled goods on the premises.
On March 15 police conducted a test purchase and a packet of foreign-branded cigarettes were bought.
Another visit on July 12 uncovered 224 cans of beer being sold at £1 a can – below the mandatory price of £1.13 due to the 7.6 per cent AVB.
“Selling alcohol below the mandatory price is a criminal offence. This is also an indicator that the alcohol product is smuggled goods. Staff were unable to provide receipts to prove legitimate purchase of the beer.
A second test purchase visit on July 27 saw another two packets of illegal, foreign-branded cigarettes bought.
A statement from a member of the police’s licencing team said: “We believe the cigarettes were being kept in one of a number of residential properties at the rear of the shop. I also noted that all cans of beer, regardless of ABV, were now all priced at £1.29. So whilst all were now being sold above the mandatory price, it seemed very strange to have one universal price.”
There were also concerns over the training and levels of knowledge displayed by staff at the store during the visits.
“They were unable to tell us anything about the general running of the store and stated they had not been trained in any way,” said the statement.
“The fact that on the second test purchase the female actually left the store unattended while she left to get the cigarettes also displays a lack of control.”
The committee, which meets on Thursday, has a range of options in terms of action.
It can revoke the licence’ modify conditions, suspend it for up to three months or leave it as it is.
The alcohol licence currently runs from 10am to 10pm Monday to Sunday.
