A North London off-licence owner who hid illegal tobacco for sale in a lollipop holder is facing a ban after police and council workers raided his shop.
After receiving “intelligence” of illicit trading from Shiraz Wine in Kentish Town, in April this year Metropolitan Police visited the store with a sniffer dog. They were later joined by council officers when it was discovered that illegal tobacco and vapes hidden in sweet containers and boxes of whiskey were being sold cheaply.
Following the raid, Camden Council officers sat down with shop owner Mr Naeem Sadegi. He reportedly said he felt the illicit trading was the fault of his workforce, which included his sister-in-law who according to police spoke “very little English”.
At one point, he became emotional and started to cry. “It felt like he was doing this to deflect the issues so that we felt sorry for him,” one officer wrote.
Then in September, the Met and the council launched a sting operation on Shiraz Wine and caught a shop assistant selling booze to a visibly young girl without first asking for any proof of ID.
Camden’s Trading Standards department has since advocated for the proprietor to lose his premises licence.
The ‘cheaper’ illegal vape and tobacco products were being sold out of a lollipop container. Image: MPS
Supporting the move, the police officer on duty said: “What you have to remember, this is a criminal offence and the majority of illicit tobacco comes from organised crime gangs. This venue is helping fund these gangs and they are not doing [it] to fund these gangs but to make as much money as he can off this local community.”
PC Christopher Malone added that it did not make sense for shop staff to be trading illegally for their own gain because the venue was bristling with CCTV and they could be witnessed on it.
Local residents, who wanted to remain anonymous, also lobbied the council to take away the premises licence.
“We have suffered from over 1 year of anti-social and late night behaviour by customers, many of whom are very young, and who seem to be attracted to the shop by the ability to purchase illegal goods that they cannot obtain elsewhere,” they said.
Mr Sadegi took over the business in 2024. He also is in charge of another off-licence in the borough where illegal trades have also taken place, according to Trading Standards.
The scheduled hearing to discuss the premises licence was postponed from Thursday 4 December to a later date, the council said.
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