Man admits supplying fake tobacco products

A MAN has been given a suspended prison sentence after admitting to the supply and distribution of counterfeit and illegal tobacco.

Choli Hassan Ali, 45, from Diamond Batch, Weston-superMare, admitted 15 charges relating to the supply and distribution of illegal tobacco products.

He was sentenced to 10 weeks imprisonment suspended for 12 months and ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid work in the community. He was ordered to pay £2,700 prosecution costs together with a £115 victim surcharge.

The hearing at North Somerset Magistrates Court was told that in February 2019 nearly 25,000 cigarettes and 23kg of hand rolling tobacco were seized from Ali’s home address and vehicle following an intelligence-led visit by North Somerset Council’s Trading Standards Service.

Trading Standards officers were accompanied by the police and a specialist officer from Trading Standards South West’s Regional Intelligence Unit.

All the items seized were found to be either counterfeit or illegal to sell in the UK since they did not comply with labelling and “plain packaging” regulations.

Although Ali maintained he was just a “delivery man”, in court he accepted he should have given more thought to what he was doing. The tobacco had been advertised for sale on Facebook.

North Somerset Council’s deputy leader, whose portfolio includes regulatory services, Councillor Mike Bell said: “Smoking kills 100,000 people a year in the UK. Criminals dealing in illicit tobacco make smoking affordable. They also sell to children, which perpetuates the cycle of disease and misery into the next generation. This verdict sends out a strong message [that] we will not hesitate to take action.”

THIS is the heartwarming moment firefighters rescued an old, blind horse from a river in South Gloucestershire.

Emergency crews were called to a weir in the River Frome, running between Frampton Cotterell to Iron Acton, at around 9.50am yesterday.

They used animal rescue equipment to save the 28-yearold horse, called Bruno, from the water.

An Avon Fire and Rescue Service spokeswoman said: “Crews from Yate and Bedminster attended. “The horse was assessed by a vet and left in the care of his owner.”

Footage, shared on Twitter, shows Bruno being led out of the river while tied to a rope, which was being pulled by firefighters.

Bedminster Fire Station tweeted: “Water rescue virtuoso rescued a rather soggy Bruno from a small Weir in North #Bristol today. Despite being blind and old (28), Bruno was safely helped back to Terra Firma.”