Trading standards officers found thousands of packets of counterfeit tobacco and cigarettesA Coventry baker had his finger in another pie – stashing thousands of packs of pirate cigarettes and tobacco destined for sale to the public at his home.
And his role in the illegal trade almost cost Auyob Habib his legitimate business following a raid on his home by Coventry Trading Standards officers.
Habib had denied two charges of possessing packets of cigarettes and one of possessing packs of hand-rolling tobacco with false trademarks with a view to selling or distributing them.
Those charges related to 1,350 counterfeit packets of Mayfair cigarettes, 900 packets of Richmond cigarettes and 180 packs of fake Amber Leaf tobacco.
He also denied possessing for supply 3,607 packets of cigarettes and 475 pouches of tobacco which failed to comply with regulations by not carrying health warnings in English.
But on the day of his trial at Warwick Crown Court, Habib, 35, of Elmsdale Avenue, Foleshill, changed his pleas on all five charges to guilty.
He was given a nine-month prison term suspended for two years and ordered to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work by Recorder Stuart Sprawson, who also ordered all the cigarettes and tobacco to be destroyed.