Bristol tobacco dealer’s freedom up in smoke after raids

A Bristol man has been jailed for eight months after council officers discovered an illegal stash of 750,000 cigarettes and 250kg of tobacco

A Bristol man has been jailed for eight months after council officers discovered an illegal stash of three quarters of a million cigarettes and quarter of a tonne of tobacco. Hardi Mohamed’s business Healthy Foods (Bristol) Ltd was raided by Bristol Trading Standards in June 2013. In shops and lock-ups based in Horfield, Fishponds and Redfield, they found 746,620 individual counterfeit cigarettes – the equivalent of more than 37,000 packets of 20 – and 250kg of hand rolling tobacco. Mr Mohamed was sentenced to prison and fined a total of £38,000, as well as being ordered to pay £23,620 in costs to Bristol City Council. Investigations into the supply chain are continuing.