Sniffer dog finds illegal cigarettes under shop floor

This is the moment a sniffer dog discovered a hidden compartment filled with counterfeit cigarettes under the floorboards of a shop.

Police and Trading Standards officers raided Keighley Mini Market on North Street and found almost 600 packets of illegal cigarettes in various hidden spaces in and outside the convenience store.

The shop has since been stripped of its alcohol licence by Bradford Council after it was decided owner Zikri Yassin Tayb could not be trusted to sell alcohol responsibly.

Tayb's solicitor said at the hearing it was an "isolated incident" and revoking his client's alcohol licence would "bring the business to an end".

On 4 December the shop was visited by an undercover Trading Standards officer, who was sold a packet of cigarettes for £4.50 - the standard price would be £17.

The shop was then raided by Trading Standards and West Yorkshire Police and officers found a packet of illegal cigarettes in a jacket pocket belonging to Tayb.

A sniffer dog later led officers to a section of flooring in the shop filled with contraband before a "large quantity of illicit tobacco products" were also discovered in Tayb's nearby Range Rover, said police.

In total, 584 packets of cigarettes and 22 pouches of hand rolling tobacco were seized from the shop and the vehicle.

At a Bradford Council licensing panel hearing on 11 March, Tayb's solicitor Alias Yousaf said: "I'm not here to minimise your concerns – there was no justification, no excuse.

"But this was not an ongoing criminal enterprise.

"When it comes to the hidden compartment, he was clearly in the wrong", he added.

PC Kevin Lord told the panel: "This was not just an isolated find - there were cigarettes stored in multiple locations that showed a concealment and distribution arrangement.

"He showed a complete and total failure in his responsibilities to prevent crime. What was being sold was unregulated and dangerous."

He added: "Having a licence carries with it a responsibility to protect the public, not expose them to more harm."

Yousaf suggested instead of revoking the alcohol licence, the panel should suspend it to allow the store to appoint a new dedicated premises supervisor who would run "a tighter ship".

However PC Lord said there were no conditions that would "mitigate this behaviour" and the licence was removed, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

He said: "The licence holder is the architect of the criminality – whoever he puts in place, he is still in charge."

Jason Bethell from Trading Standards added: "He has decided to get involved in organised crime and he has decided to commit serious criminal offences."

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