High Wycombe business owner pays a hefty price for selling illegal cigarettes

In a recent prosecution brought by Buckinghamshire and Surrey Trading Standards, a small business was ordered to pay fines and costs totalling nearly £15,000.

Bulent Kuran, director of MCK Supermarkets Ltd, which runs the Bassey Food Store in Desborough Road, High Wycombe, pleaded guilty to nine charges relating to the sale of illegal cigarettes when he appeared at High Wycombe Magistrates earlier this month.

The court heard the full details of the case which dates back to 2019. Between December 2019 and June 2022, Trading Standards purchased cigarettes on three occasions from the shop. At the time of each sale, it was noted that the cashier put the money paid into the cash register in the shop and then used a headset to ask a colleague to bring the required quantity of cigarettes into the shop.

During the purchase in June 2022, one of the officers witnessed a female employee leaving the shop and approaching a van parked at the rear. She opened the passenger door of the vehicle and removed something in a black bin liner. The purchaser was handed the cigarettes in a black bin liner by a female employee in the shop.

Two announced visits by Trading Standards officers were also made during December 2019 and June 2022. During the first no cigarettes were found but during the second visit, with the use of a tobacco detection dog, a stash of 1,185 packets were discovered in a van at the rear of the shop. The cigarette packets were incorrectly labelled (they did not have the statutory health warnings required by UK law) nor were they in the correct packaging (all cigarettes sold in the UK are required to be a particular muted colour to ensure that they are not attractive to smokers).

Samples of the cigarettes were later examined by representatives from tobacco companies, and it was discovered that most of the cigarettes were legitimate product intended for sale in foreign markets. Only two packets were found to be counterfeit, bearing the name of a legitimate company but not made by them.

The director of the company, the manager of the shop, the registered keeper of the vehicle and a named driver of the vehicle were all interviewed by Trading Standards. Everyone denied any involvement in the sale of the cigarettes or of any knowledge of their existence.

In court, Mr Kuran expressed deep regret for the sales and accepted full responsibility. Since these matters have come to light, he has provided regular training to his staff to ensure that they are fully aware of the legal restrictions imposed on the sale of certain products and there have been no further issues noted.

The company was given full credit for its early guilty plea. However, the bench recognised the intentional concealment of the cigarettes and the organised nature of the criminality, including the use of headsets for staff to communicate with each other.

In court, the company was fined a total of £10,310 with a £181 mandatory victims’ surcharge and full prosecution costs of £3,951 making a total of £14,442. The court also ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the 1,185 packets of cigarettes seized from the van.

Mark Winn, Buckinghamshire Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing & Regulatory Services said: “Following the first sale in December 2019, when an announced visit was then made to the shop, the company could have taken the opportunity to rectify the situation but instead, they carried on selling illegal cigarettes. Moreover, the use of headsets and the concealment of the cigarettes in the van demonstrate the steps that were being taken to avoid detection in the full knowledge that what they were doing was illegal.”

Mark continued: “This sort of illegal activity won’t be tolerated in Buckinghamshire. These cigarettes may not have been counterfeit but they were not allowed to be legally sold in the UK and the company clearly knew this but carried on regardless. Let this be a cautionary lesson to anyone tempted to try anything similar, you will not get away with it.”