Shop used hidden chute to sell illegal cigarettes

A shop where a hidden chute system was used to sell counterfeit cigarettes in Keighley has had its alcohol licence revoked.

An elaborate network of indoor drainpipes and CCTV was used to move illegal tobacco from an upper floor flat to a drawer on the shop floor at Wisla, in Cavendish Street.

One Trading Standards officer said the hidden system "reminds me of the Great Escape" as Bradford Council's District Licensing Panel met to discuss the case.

Following a hearing on Thursday, members voted to strip the shop of its alcohol licence.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the licence holder for the business, the person responsible for making sure alcohol sales are carried out correctly, lived in Wolverhampton, an almost three-hour drive from Keighley.

The review into the store's licence was held after a raid by West Yorkshire Police and Trading Standards in December that uncovered hundreds of packets of counterfeit cigarettes and illegal vapes.

An undercover trading standards officer carried out a test purchase for illegal tobacco at Wisla on 4 December.

When the officer stated a friend had pointed out the shop to him to get cheap cigarettes from, the staff member eventually reached under the counter and pulled out a packet of Richmond cigarettes and asked £4.50 for them.

The regular price should be about £17.

On 9 December, Trading Standards and police raided the shop, finding single use vapes and illegal oversized vapes on display in a cabinet on the till counter.

After searching the store they found the opening of a chute hidden by some drawers, which had a number of packets of illegal cigarettes that had been lodged inside.

The other end of the chute opened into the flat, and officers found a makeshift CCTV system, where people living in the flat could view a monitor to see and hear what was happening in the shop.

A sniffer dog found that a window sill had been hollowed out and used to store more illegal cigarettes.

In total 603 packets of cigarettes and 125 pouches of 50g hand rolling tobacco were recovered from the flat while a further 165 illegal, oversized vapes and 242 illegal single use vapes were confiscated from the shop.

The panel heard a chute had been discovered at the premises before, and in April 2022 the then licence holder Ari Rafiq was stripped of his licence by the council.

The shop continued to operate with Ari Rafiq still running the store, but with Aso Rafiq Mohammed as the licence holder.

Jason Bethell from Trading Standards said: "It is quite a good set up – it is the third time in recent years we've found a chute in this store."

He suggested it would cost around £5,000 to set up the chute, and added: "It reminds me of the Great Escape, but instead of tunnels this shop has hidden chutes.

"A lot of thought has gone into it, you have to hand it to them but it is still criminality."

Neither Mr Rafiq nor Mr Mohammed were at the hearing, but they were represented by lawyer Alias Yousaf.

He urged the panel not to revoke the licence, but instead suspend it and allow a new licence holder to be found.

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