Asif Khan, aged 33, is the latest shopkeeper to be punished for selling illegal cigarettes and vapes
Bob Shop 6 in Sparkbrook
Bob Shops across Birmingham are being used as a ‘front for money laundering by organised crime gangs’, a court has heard.
It is understood 15 of the stores throughout the city are either under investigation or have been prosecuted for selling illegal cigarettes and vapes, following a joint operation by police, Trading Standards and immigration enforcement.
Asif Khan became the latest shopkeeper to be punished for selling hundreds of illicit products in relation to Bob Shop 6 on Ladypool Road, Sparkbrook.
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The 33-year-old asylum seeker from Afghanistan was also quizzed over his immigration status after admitting he had separated from the British citizen he had married.
Khan, of Crocketts Road, Handsworth, admitted three trade marks offences, four breaches of tobacco regulations, two consumer protection charges and a further charge under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Although he maintained his claim that he did not know the items seized from his shop were illegal.
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He was sentenced to 16 months suspended for 18 months at Birmingham Crown Court today, Monday, August 11.
Judge Dean Kershaw said: “It does not take a judge in a crown court to tell the public what they know is really going on with Bob Shops. It’s obvious. Everybody knows what’s going on.
“Certainly those that the courts have dealt with and those under investigation, the vast majority are fronts for money laundering.”
Opening the case Mark Jackson, prosecuting for Birmingham City Council, said: “Operation Bluejack is a police force led operation together with the support of other enforcement agencies including Trading Standards and immigration.
“The operation included numerous teams of officers visiting numerous Bob Shops, often in intelligence led operations, suspected of being involved in organised crime and in the supply of various illicit goods.”
Bob Shop 6 was raided on January 31 last year when Khan was present.
Bob Shop 6 at Ladypool Road in Sparkbrook
Officers seized 705 illegal vapes, 111 packets of counterfeit cigarettes, 72 packets of counterfeit hand rolling tobacco and 114 packets of illegal oral snuff.
Some of the vapes contained nearly 9,000 puffs worth of liquid when the legal limit is around 600.
And some contained a nicotine concentration of more than 50 per cent above the permitted threshold.
When Khan was interviewed he denied wrong-doing and blamed a man who is a member of a family who are subject of a wider criminal investigation.
Mr Jackson said Bob Shops across Birmingham and the West Midlands were being ‘used by organised criminals and criminal gangs’.
He added: “The trade in counterfeit tobacco products and illegal vapes is extremely lucrative.
“Retail premises like Bob Shop 6 represent the income generating arm of the organised crime networks who are responsible for the manufacture, transportation and delivery of counterfeit tobacco products and illegal vaping products.”
The prosecutor further told the court that the proportion of children experimenting with vaping had increased 50 per cent year on year.
Preet-Paul Tutt, defending, confirmed Khan came to the UK from Afghanistan aged 17, and had never previously committed a crime.
He also stated since the raid he had continued to run Bob Shop 6 without reoffending.
When questioned over his immigration status Khan stated he had leave to remain under a two-and-half-year extension.
But he added he was separated from the British citizen he had married and now planned to marry his new partner.
Judge Kershaw said: “His repayment to the society that has enabled him to live here lawfully and flee from a country because it was unsafe is to make some of the citizens here unsafe through the sale of unsafe products.”
He told Khan he ‘couldn’t care less’ whether the young people who bought his vapes were killed, harmed or suffered lung cancer because he was ‘only interested in money’.
The judge ordered him to ‘pay something back to society’ by completing 200 hours of unpaid work as well as up to 30 days of rehabilitation activity.
Khan has also admitted nine offences on behalf of Bob Shop 6 but the sentencing of the company was adjourned until a date next year.
