A blitz on the illegal sale of vapes, counterfeit tobacco and alcohol to children has resulted in hefty fines for six traders and shops in Harrogate and Knaresborough, one of them owned by an Iraqi asylum seeker selling illicit cigarettes.

Trading Standards sent a 16-year-old test purchaser into several shops in the area in a bid to root out the illegal sale of vape products to children under 18 and the purveying of counterfeit tobacco, York magistrates heard yesterday (October 28).

Pink lemonade vape

Angela Lacy, prosecuting on behalf of North Yorkshire Council’s Trading Standards department, said that on March 7, the volunteer test purchaser went into a vape shop in Harrogate carrying a citizen’s ID card showing he was 16 years old.

Despite new legislation making it illegal to sell vape products to anyone under 18, the seller, Ali Maoloud, didn’t ask for any identification and the teenager was able to buy an Elux Legend pink-lemonade-flavoured e-liquid containing nicotine equivalent to 20 cigarettes.

Ms Lacy said that Maoloud, 48, of Bradcroft, Huddersfield, later told officers he was “aware of his obligations” regarding the sale of vape products to youngsters and claimed it was his “first day in employment” at the shop.

Maoloud was fined £80, ordered to pay £999 prosecution costs and a statutory surcharge of £32 for selling nicotine products to a person under 18.

Vape purchases on Church Avenue...

On the same day, the teenage test purchaser went into the American Candy shop in Church Avenue, Harrogate, and bought an Elux Legend Apple Peach e-liquid vape. Again, the vendor didn’t ask the teenager for identification for the purchase.

When quizzed by officers, owner Diwan Nawshirwan, 30, said he had only had the business “for a few months”.

Nawshirwan, of Bradney Close, Manchester, was charged with selling nicotine-inhaling products to a person under the age of 18 and admitted the offence.

Magistrates fined him £171 and ordered him to pay a £68 statutory surcharge, along with £873 costs.

...and Knaresborough High Street

Ms Lacy said that on the same day, the test purchaser went into the Tobba Market Ltd vape-and-tobacco store in High Street, Knaresborough.

Ms Lacy said:

The teenager bought an Elux Cherry Ice e-liquid vape and left with the item despite not being asked for identification.

A named man responsible for the sale was asked by the authorities to come in for an interview about the illegal sale but initially didn’t respond.

He later emailed Trading Standards to say he was the owner of the shop and was “willing to co-operate”.

He then sent another email claiming he “wasn’t the person who made the sale” but that he didn’t know who was working at the shop at the time.

Tobba Market Ltd was fined £440 and ordered to pay £575 costs, as well as a £176 statutory surcharge.

Bilton alcohol purchase

On the same day, the young test purchaser went into Bilton’s Local on King Edward’s Drive, Bilton, and bought a can of Amstel lager.

The boy told the seller he was 16 years old and showed his ID card. The vendor later gave Trading Standards officers “false information regarding his name”. Ms Lacy said he was now "untraceable".

Ms Lacy said that in February – a month before the test-purchasing sting – the shop, owned by JK Retail Ltd, was sent a warning letter by Trading Standards about its practices following “a number of complaints received by the service”.

JK Retail and Vicky Kataria, the licence holder, were each ordered to pay £229 costs and a statutory surcharge of £176 for selling alcohol to a person under 18 years of age.

Kataria, of King Edward’s Drive, Bilton, was also fined £440.

Counterfeit cigarettes on King's Road

On August 21 last year, Trading Standards officers went into a vapes-and-tobacco store on King's Road, Harrogate, belonging to Iraqi asylum seeker Omer Bapir.

The undercover officers bought a counterfeit pack of Richmond King Size cigarettes for a knock-down fee of £4, said Ms Lacy.

She said the cigarette packet did not have “the correct health and information warnings” and the packaging was a “dull brown colour” not in keeping with the recognised tobacco regulations or the real brand.

Hidden panel

A month later, Trading Standards and police officers went to the premises with a detection dog and discovered a panel under the till area where illicit tobacco had been hidden.

Bapir, 27, was told to open the panel but told officers he “didn’t know anything about it”.

When he was asked again to open it, he still didn’t comply, so officers used a crowbar to prise it open and found nearly 120 packs of counterfeit cigarettes and rolling tobacco including the Richmond, Lambert & Butler and Amber Leaf brands.

On March 7 this year, the day of the main Trading Standards blitz, the teenage volunteer went to the store with his ID card to buy a vape product.

The male shop assistant, ostensibly not Bapir, sold him an Elux Cherry Ice e-liquid vape for £3.99, said Ms Lacy.

Bapir, of Kings Road, Harrogate, was later interviewed under caution and said he bought the product “five or six days” before the seizure of the e-liquid “from a Romanian man”.

He said the shop assistant who sold the product was “only helping him out” and “didn’t speak English good”.

'Life under threat'

Bapir was charged with 10 counts of producing, possessing or supplying illegal or counterfeit tobacco products which didn’t comply with the relevant health warnings, safety information and in some cases breached trademark regulations, and one count of selling a vape liquid to a person under the age of 18.

He admitted all 11 offences, including three counts of supplying – or possession with intent to supply – tobacco products whose packaging didn’t carry the relevant health warnings, including 126 packets discovered on September 23 last year.

He also admitted two counts of producing or supplying a tobacco product which didn’t comply with the regulations in terms of the colouring and shade of the packaging, including 119 packets of tobacco found on the same date.

He admitted four breaches of the Trademarks Act in that he possessed counterfeit tobacco products with a view to selling them.

Bapir’s solicitor Caroline Aaron said her client was originally from Iraq and claimed asylum in England in March 2021 because “his life was under threat” in his homeland.

She added:

Magistrates adjourned Bapir’s sentence for an “all-options” probation report because his offences warranted more than just a fine.

Bapir will be sentenced on November 25 at the same court.