An Ilford shopkeeper has been slapped with a £25,000 fine for selling smuggled goods, including counterfeit iPhones and banned tobacco products.

Redbridge Council’s enforcement officers, working with sniffer dogs, uncovered the illegal haul at B.B. Fatima Cash and Carry in Ilford Lane.

Officers found large quantities of smuggled tobacco in the shop. Inside a locked office, they also found 160 fake Apple iPhones, along with more smuggled tobacco.

The phone screens were not real and there were no working parts; the phones contained only a lump of metal to give them weight.

Shopkeeper Asif Aziz Khan stated the phones were to be used as dummies in a proposed mobile phone business but was not able to provide any evidence to substantiate these claims.

Khan, as company director, and the company, initially appeared at Barkingside Magistrates’ Court, but the business owner elected for trial at Crown Court.

Khan and the company were then each fined £11,700 and had to pay £950 costs, totalling £25,300.

Cllr Jas Athwal, leader of the council, said: “This is a great result for our trading standards team. We’re determined to protect our residents from unscrupulous traders. Redbridge Council works tirelessly to stamp out criminal behaviour and take illegal goods off our streets. These products are unregulated and are often found not to meet UK health and safety standards.

“The illegal trade also puts legitimate retailers at a disadvantage, who sell genuine products in competition with illegal untaxed articles, so we won’t let up on bringing those who flout the law to court.”

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