A convenience store manager from Loughborough has been sentenced to eight months in prison for selling illicit and counterfeit tobacco products.
Baram Tofiq, 41, of Greenbank Road, Leicester, admitted to 18 offences connected to illegal tobacco sales at his shop, Booze Zone, on Meadow Lane. The charges followed investigations by Leicestershire County Council’s Trading Standards service, which conducted test purchases at the premises in October 2021 and December 2022.
Picture credit: Leicestershire Trading Standards
Tofiq appeared at Leicester Magistrates’ Court on 9 October 2024, where he pleaded guilty on behalf of Booze Zone Ltd and himself to nine offences from October 2021, including possession and sale of counterfeit tobacco and trademark violations.
He initially denied a further nine offences from December 2022, claiming he had sold the business in June of that year. However, on the morning of his scheduled trial in May 2025, Tofiq changed his plea to guilty.
At his sentencing on Tuesday, 8 July 2025, at Leicester Crown Court, Judge Timothy Spencer KC handed Tofiq an eight-month custodial sentence. Booze Zone Ltd was also fined £20,000, to be paid within three months.
The court heard that Trading Standards began investigating Booze Zone in early 2021 following reports of illegal tobacco sales. In October 2021, officers conducted a test purchase, buying counterfeit Richmond cigarettes for £5 per pack—less than a third of the legal price.
Later that day, Trading Standards, accompanied by police and a tobacco detection dog, searched the shop and found a suitcase and a bag filled with illegal tobacco. Tofiq was seen attempting to dispose of the evidence by throwing it over a fence into a neighbouring garden.
Further test purchases in December 2022 also revealed the sale of illicit tobacco. A search on 13 December uncovered additional illegal tobacco and vapes in a Toyota parked outside the store.
Two types of illegal cigarettes were being sold at Booze Zone: genuine products not meant for the UK market due to labelling non-compliance, and counterfeit versions of well-known brands such as Richmond and Lambert & Butler.
Gary Connors, head of Leicestershire Trading Standards, said: “The trade in illicit tobacco costs the UK over £2 billion in lost tax revenue annually, funds wider criminal activity, and puts young people at risk.”
He added, “This sentence demonstrates that persistent breaches will be met with firm action, including prison for those who engage in such fraud. We will not hesitate to act against unscrupulous traders.”
