Lincolnshire Chief Constable Bill Skelly has objected for a third time to the transfer of a licensed premises in Spalding, expressing concerns of criminal involvement.
The alcohol licence for the Westlode Street store Delicja is up for discussion by members of the district council’s licensing committee on Wednesday.
“This is the third objection Lincolnshire Police has made in relation to the transfer of the Delicja premises licence,” says a report to go before members.
The first related to transferring the licence to Mohammed Salih Attuf who is sole director of the company.
“This was rejected at a hearing as the licensing sub committee was satisfied that it was appropriate for the promotion of crime prevention licensing objective,” says the report.
The second transfer was in relation to David Glazik with the application withdrawn on the afternoon of the hearing.
“Lincolnshire police believe that the evidence presented in all the objections shows that granting the applications would undermine the crime prevention licensing objectives,” the report says.
“All the individuals named in those objections have a history of involvement in premises that have been found selling or in possession of smuggled goods,” it adds.
The last application to transfer the licence was rejected in November last year by the district committee.
At that point it was proposed that the licence would be taken over by a Mr Diari Hassan Hama. The applicant, Mr Attuf, said they had a landlord and tenant relationship, but according to the committee: “The explanations in this regard did not stand up to scrutiny as they appear to have a long standing working relationship including being directors of the same company of the same time.
Mr Hama had previously owned a shop in Leicester found to have counterfeit cigarettes and bottles of non-duty spirits. He was also the former director of a
company headed by Mr Attuf.
“There is a clear history of Mr Hama and Mr Attuf working together over a long period of time in at least two licensed premises.
“Both of these premises have been involved in criminality at times when both the individuals held a position of responsibility on the premises licence at these locations.”
A check by the council earlier this year showed that Delicja Spalding Ltd was incorporated in July last year.
“Police previously objected to the transfer of the Delicja premises license to Delicja Spalding Ltd due to Mr Attuf’s connections to premises where illegal tobacco products were bought or discovered,” the report says.
