Former Shrewsbury shop director sentenced for illegal vape and tobacco sales
A former Shrewsbury shop and its director have been sentenced for the illegal sale of counterfeit tobacco and oversized disposable vapes, plus the sale of a disposable nicotine vape to someone under 18.
At Kidderminster Magistrates Court on Tuesday, 3 February, Jalal Ahmadi, former director of Albion Mini Market of Castle Gates, Shrewsbury, was sentenced to 12 weeks custody suspended for 12 months, and ordered to pay a fine of £500, a victims surcharge of £200 and a contribution to costs of £400 – a total of £1100.
Albion Mini Market was ordered to pay £3000, a victims surcharge of £1,200 and costs of £2812.90. The judge also ordered the forfeiture and destruction of all items seized.
Mr Ahmadi was in court and had previously pleaded guilty to the offences, which occurred on 1 February and 17 March 2025
The prosecution was brought by Shropshire Council following investigations by the council’s trading standards team.
In sentencing the judge said that he considered the culpability of the defendant was high given that he was ultimately responsible for the sale of such unregulated and untraceable products to the public. He also considered that the potential of harm to the public was high given the potential harm of unidentified contents of the tobacco products on sale at the shop.
Bernie Bentick, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for health, said:
“The law relating to sales of alcohol, tobacco, nicotine vaping products, fireworks and other age-restricted products and services exists to protect children and young people from harm – and for this reason the council takes its role in preventing sales of age-restricted products very seriously. Our trading standards team wants to work with businesses to ensure they comply with the law and act responsibly. However, where necessary we will not hesitate to take robust enforcement action, as this case shows.
“Counterfeit cigarettes are significantly more dangerous to health as they are produced without quality control so can contain unknown and possibly hazardous contaminants. The cheap price of them also makes them more affordable to children, undercuts legitimate businesses and results in a loss of revenue to the government which could be used to fund public services.
“The Government has rightly banned disposable vapes since 1 June 2025 due to their appeal to young people, their harmful contents and their addictive effects, which can lead to future dependence on nicotine and tobacco. We also need to combat significant environmental damage from the discarded plastics used for these devices.”
Albion Mini Market was run by Albion Mini Market Limited (with Mr Ahmadi as the sole Director) until 28 April 2025.
