Man Found Guilty After £5,000 worth of Tobacco Seized

A 39-year-old man has been found guilty at Mold Crown Court, of three offences under the Trade Marks Act for possession of 35.8Kg of hand rolling tobacco.

Colin Saville, 39, of Bwlchgwyn, Wrexham was fined a total of £2250, ordered to pay £2750 costs and a £120 victim surcharge.

Enough tobacco was found for around ‘36,000 rollies’.

The matter came to light during a visit last year by Police officers to Saville’s work premises in Ponciau where he trades as CS Paint and Body Repairs.

Four bin bags containing a total of 716 x 50g pouches of tobacco were recovered from the premises including the brands Golden Virginia, Amber Leaf and Cutter’s Choice. The street value of this seizure is estimated to be around £5000 and was passed by Police to Wrexham CBC to investigate.

Saville claimed in court that the tobacco had been given to him in lieu of payment by a Polish customer several years ago who did not have the means to pay. Saville was unable to identify the customer and had kept no record of either the customer or the car that he had worked on.

Saville claimed to be smoking it himself and that he did not sell tobacco to anyone. After a short retirement the jury unanimously rejected Saville’s story finding him guilty on all three counts.

Cllr David Kelly, Lead member for Planning and Public Protection, said: “The availability of cheap illegal tobacco poses a major threat to our attempts to reduce smoking and tackle what is the biggest public health issue we face in Wales and the whole of the UK.

“Smoking kills more than the next 6 most common cause of premature death put together and is responsible for 100,000 death in the UK every year. Cheap tobacco, whether it is counterfeit, smuggled genuine product or so called “cheap whites” undermines the work done to support existing smokers to give up and to protect children from being recruited as the next generation of new smokers.

“The Council’s Trading Standards section is working ever more closely with North Wales Police and HM Revenue and Customs to tackle this issue and today’s result should serve as warning to anyone tempted to get involved in dealing in illegal tobacco.”

Anyone with information on the supply of illegal tobacco can report it to Citizens Advice Consumer Services 03454 040506 or to Police on 101.