Shopkeeper spared jail after almost 9,000 illegal cigarettes found at her shop

Elina Pole hid the counterfeit goods in a hollowed out wall behind a toilet mirror, under the shop counter and in crates of lager at the Madgalenka store on Shropshire Street in Market Drayton, a court was told.

In total, 8,860 illegal cigarettes and 2.5kg of hand-rolling tobacco were seized by police officers during visits to the shop. The items will now all be destroyed.

Pole, 28, who lives on Cheshire Street in the town, admitted charges relating to seizures of counterfeit, illegal and non-duty-paid cigarettes and tobacco. She was handed a four month jail term suspended for 12 months when she appeared at Shrewsbury Magistrates Court.

She was also ordered to do 200 hours unpaid community work, pay £1,500 towards legal costs and £80 victim surcharge, and handed a two-month curfew, which requires her to wear an electronic tag.

As a result of information received from concerned members of the public in March, officers from the public protection investigations team visited her shop, where they discovered bags beneath the counter containing a variety of illegal tobacco products.

Following the seizure, further intelligence was received and revisits were conducted in June and July.

During these visits public protection officers worked alongside officers from the Market Drayton Police Safer Neighbourhood Team and a specialist tobacco detection dog, which helped find the illegal goods in the building.

The items were found hidden in a variety of locations, including a hollowed out wall behind a mirror in a toilet, concealed within crates of lager, within a water butt and in a small cavity cut out from the bottom of the shop counter.

During sentencing on Thursday, magistrates told Pole what she had done was very serious, that she knew what she was doing was wrong, and the offending was persistent.

They advised her she was lucky not to receive an immediate custodial sentence.

Grant Tunnadine, public protection investigations team manager from Shropshire Council, said: "I am delighted with the outcome of this case, as the sale of illicit tobacco is a crime that harms communities and legitimate traders alike.

"The court has clearly recognised the severity of the matters that were presented before them, and this is reflected in the sentence issued.

"Shropshire Council's public protection service will not hesitate to target resources and take action against those who knowingly engage in this illegal trade.

"I hope this case demonstrates that, despite the lengths this individual was prepared to go to conceal this illegal product, we were still able to find and seize it."