Shop Owner Sentenced for Selling Illegal Cigarettes at £7.50 a Pack

Shop boss running illegal £1m tobacco operation ordered to pay £87k and sell BMW

The shop was described as a 'very busy and successful' cash-based business which was being run 'primarily for the purposes of selling illicit tobacco'

Shop owner sentenced for selling illegal cigarettes at £7.50 a pack

The shop regularly sold illegal cigarettes and hand rolling tobacco

One in four cigarettes in the UK is illegal

Around a quarter of all cigarettes smoked in the UK are illicit, meaning they are either smuggled imports that have evaded UK duty, or they are counterfeits of legitimate brands.

One in four cigarettes consumed in the UK found to be illicit

A new report by KPMG and commissioned by PMI found that one in four cigarettes consumed in the UK in 2024 were illicit