LONDON: A Kenton shopkeeper has been fined for selling illicit alcohol and dodgy cigarettes.
Chandrasegaram Satheeswaran, owner of Sathees Food & Wine, was charged and ordered to pay more than £3,000 after an investigation by Harrow Trading Standards.
During an inspection, hundreds of foreign cigarettes and chewing tobacco were found under the counter which were not marked with the required health warnings. Illicit alcohol was also discovered without the duty paid stickers.
The owner blamed a mysterious supplier called ‘Rajesh’ for the goods.
Satheeswaran was found guilty of three offences on April 28 at Willesden Magistrates’ Court. He was charged for three offences, two of which were for failing to display the correct health warnings on the packets, and the other for failing to correctly display a notice in the shop prohibiting the sale of tobacco to anyone below 18 years of age.
Trading Standards officers and HMRC visited the premises in September 2014 and discovered and seized 34 packets of 20 cigarettes, which included packets of Kent, Marlboro, and Viceroy cigarettes.
An additional 374 pouches of chewing tobacco as well as more than 2,000l of alcohol were also seized. These were all incorrectly labelled, had no duty paid and were found behind and under the counter.
Mr Chandrasegaram admitted to breaking the law and was evasive about his mysterious supplier ‘Rajesh’, who he failed to describe properly.
Simon Legg, regulatory services manager for Trading Standards, said: “The law states that warnings must appear on tobacco products to make it absolutely clear to users of the serious harm they can cause.
Business owners who think that they can get away selling tobacco products that do not comply with the law by hiding them from view but supplying these products from behind the counter are wrong.”
A Harrow Council spokesman said: “Although the majority of businesses in the borough trade legitimately, there are unfortunately a small group of businesses and individuals who think it is ok to flout the rules.
