Kashif Iqbal was involved in selling “thousands” of illegal and unregulated vapes
Kashif Iqbal has been ordered to pay £300,000 following a proceeds of crime investigation(Image: South Wales Police)
A shopkeeper jailed for running an illegal vapes business has been ordered to hand over £300,000 in proceeds of crime payments. Kashif Iqbal was selling vapes containing enough liquid for up to 4,000 “puffs” while legal vapes typically offer around 600 puffs.
Evidence showed that while primarily a retailer, the defendant was also supplying the devices to others on a wholesale business. The investigation into Iqbal would ultimately lead to a Welsh local authority taking down a major supplier of illegal vapes to shops around the UK.
Swansea Crown Court has previously heard that Iqbal was prosecuted after Swansea Council trading standards officers carried out a series of visits and test purchases at the Rebel Vapes shop in Morrison during 2022 as part of an operation targeting the supply of illegal vapes in the county. During the visits hundreds of vapes were seized.
Then in the July of the following year the defendant was seen at a storage unit containing more than 90 boxes of illegal vapes, while a further 27 boxes were found in his van. Each box contained 160 vapes.
The total value of the vapes sold by and seized from the defendant was estimated to be £500,000. For the latest court stories sign up to our crime newsletter
Iqbal was running a profitable business selling illegal vapes(Image: Swansea Council)
In January last year Iqbal, of Jersey Road, Bonymaen, Swansea, was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison after pleading guilty to participating in a fraudulent business.
Sending him down Judge Catherine Richards said the defendant had been involved in selling “thousands” of illegal and unregulated vapes to customers including, on at least one occasion, to a child.
The case returned to court this month for a proceeds of crime hearing following an investigation into the defendant’s finances. The court heard that it was agreed that Iqbal had benefited from his criminal conduct to the tune of £400,000 and that £300,000 had been identified in available assets.
Prosecutor Lee Reynolds said the £300,000 was comprised of cash seized during the investigation; some £24,080 in a business bank account; equity in a home on Carmel Road in Winch Wen wholly owned by the defendant; and £110,815 in equity in a house on Jersey Road in Bonymaen which is in the name of the defendant’s wife.
The court made a confiscation order in the available sum, and gave the 48-year-old defendant three months to pay.
It was the prosecution of Iqbal which lead Swansea Council to the taking down of a multi-million pound operation supplying illegal vapes to shops around the UK.
The local authority was able to trace the firm which had been supplying the defendant with stock and in February 2024 trading standards officers – with assistance from the Met Police – executed a search warrant at a business unit on Bridge Street in Southall, west London.
In a rear storage area in the Buddha Vapes premises police found a huge quantity of illegal vapes, some with liquid tanks as big as 20ml – legal vapes are permitted to have tanks of no more than 2ml – and offering up to 15,000 “puffs” compared to the 600 or 700 puffs of legal devices. Many of the illegal vapes originated in China.
The court heard it was clear from evidence gathered by Swansea Council that the London firm had been supplying vapes on a “staggering” scale to shops around the country and was a “multi-million pound illegal business”.
