A SHOP owner and his store manager were caught red-handed peddling contraband cigarettes and tobacco from their mini mart, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Hazhar Najim and Mahrwan Mahood pleaded guilty to fraudulent evasion of excise duty following raids by HM Revenue and Customs on a house and the store in Keighley.

Prosecutor Laura Addy told the court on Friday that Customs officials searched an address in Paget Street, in the town, on November 23, 2017, and found 73,800 non UK duty paid cigarettes.

The cigarettes had been hidden under blankets on a bed, the court was told.

Miss Addy said the amount of duty evaded on the haul was almost £20,000.

The cigarettes, which were branded with well known names, including Benson and Hedges, were counterfeit.

The following day, the investigating team raided Nico Mini Market in High Street, Keighley.

Contraband cigarettes and half a kilo of illegal rolling tobacco were seized from boarded up cupboards under the counter.

Miss Addy said the duty on the products should have totalled £540.

Najim, 36, of Temple Street, Keighley, stated that he was the shop manager. He said that Mahmood, 23, of High Street, Keighley, worked for him. Mahmood held an alcohol licence for the store that was revoked during the court hearing.

More illegal cigarettes were found at the mini mart on April 11 last year when a sharp-eyed Police Community Support Officer saw a woman buying packets of ten cigarettes, not an amount sold legally.

When her bag was searched and the cigarettes recovered, the shopper demanded her £40 back from Mahmood.

The 3,840 cigarettes and 350g of hand-rolling tobacco discovered at the shop should have had duty of £1,173 paid on them, the court heard.

Both men admitted two offences of fraudulently evading duty – Najim in relation to the Paget Street raid and the mini mart, and Mahmood in relation to the two seizures from the mini mart.

The court heard he was on bail when he committed the second offence.

Judge Jonathan Rose ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the contraband cigarettes and tobacco.

He told the men: "You tried to line your own pockets at the expense of this country."

They had deprived the Exchequer of much-needed funds, the court heard.

"Both of you are to be sentenced for greed," Judge Rose said.

Najim was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment, suspended for two years, with 280 hours of unpaid work and £1,500 costs.

Mahmood was sentenced to a two-year community order with 200 hours of unpaid work and £500 costs.

After the case, a HMRC spokesperson said: “Najim and Mahmood thought it was acceptable to deal in illegal tobacco, which undermines legitimate traders and deprives the UK of money which should be used to fund our public services.

“HMRC will continue to pursue tax cheats like Najim and Mahmood. We encourage anyone with information about tax fraud to report it to us online, or contact our Fraud Hotline on 0800 788 887.”

Proceedings are underway to recover the unpaid duty.