Shop owner sentenced for supplying illegal cigarettes and vapes

A Dukinfield shop owner has been sentenced to carry out 90 hours unpaid community service and ordered to pay over £1900 after admitting the possession for supply of counterfeit cigarettes and non-compliant vapes.  
 
Tameside Magistrates’ Court heard that Tameside Council trading standards officers visited Nisa Local, 169 King Street, on 22 March 2023 and seized 129 non-compliant e-cigarettes.
 
They returned on 26 April 2023 and seized 251 packets of illegal cigarettes and 10 non-compliant e-cigarettes from a concealed hiding place within the shop. 
 
Mr Ali Yelmaz Azadin of Church Street, Dukinfield, who was the licence holder and company director for the businesses at the time of the seizure, pleaded guilty on 21 September 2026 to three counts relating to the sale of non-complaint e-cigarettes and counterfeit cigarettes. 
 
Mr Azadin, 46, was sentenced to a 12 month community order of 90 hours unpaid work and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £114 and a contribution to costs of £1,800. The cigarettes and e-cigarettes seized have been forfeited and will be destroyed. 
 
Tameside Council Executive Member for Environmental Services and Neighbourhoods Cllr Laura Boyle said: “The sale of illicit cigarettes and vapes is not a victimless crime. It is often linked to wider criminal activity and organised crime rings, it makes tobacco more accessible to children and young people and it can have wider damaging impacts on local neighbourhoods and businesses. 
 
“This is a good result from court. We will continue to take robust enforcement action against those who profit from this illegal trade.”