A store owner who has repeatedly been caught selling counterfeit tobacco and untaxed tobacco has landed a 12 month prison spell, following a police raid on the premises.

Kovan Abdullah’s The Local Store on Conwyn Bay, Wales was raided by trading standards, North Wales Police, the Immigration Service and a company that provides sniffer dogs.

Over £15,000 worth of tobacco was found by the detection dog in a fake staircase and hidden cabinets.

The Daily Post reports that the shop’s previous owner, whom was known to Abdullah, had also been imprisoned for using the premises for criminal activity.

The judge in charge of the case, Niclas Parry told the defendant, “It was clearly profitable because you were prepared to take risks, doing this when you knew that the previous owner who did it had gone to prison, doing this when you were on bail and still doing it despite three or four visits by the authorities.”

The prosecuting barrister for Conwy trading standards informed the court that previous raids in 2015 and 2016 had uncovered 11,000 counterfeit cigarettes, 3,700 cigarettes not for the UK market and 20 kg of rolling tobacco was seized.

The shop owner admitted the charges, which included fraudulent trading and trading descriptions offences. He began his prison sentence immediately following the trial on May 9.

Proposals published by HMRC earlier this year suggested that increased punishments for smugglers, distributors and sellers of illicit tobacco including fines of up to 400% of the duty evaded, civil penalties and increased naming and shaming of offenders.