A Colwyn Bay shopkeeper who hid illicit tobacco products worth thousands of pounds in a metal door and a fuse box has been jailed.
Andrea Gelatdkova, who was described as director of Local Store (Rhyl), which had a shop in Conwy Road, Colwyn Bay, had her business raided by trading standards officers, police and a specialist detection dog.
The 37-year-old, of Llwyn Morfa, Abergele, admitted 15 offences including Trade Marks Act and Fraud Act allegations, unfair trading and having dangerous products, and 320 offences were considered.
A district judge at Llandudno court was told cigarettes and tobacco had been concealed in a metal door and an industrial-sized fuse box which slid sideways to reveal the products.
Smokers hoping for a bargain might regret using counterfeit cigarettes, which were frequently found to contain toxic materials, the prosecution said.
Stuart Dunn, prosecuting, said HMRC and Conwy council trading standards officers visited the town centre shop in July and found the defendant had a holdall of illicit tobacco.
She insisted she was an employee, and 2.6kgs of illegal tobacco and 3,840 illicit cigarettes were seized.
In December, a test purchase was made and the store raided, with counterfeit products found.
However, a bag of illicit tobacco including 1,240 fake and foreign cigarettes was under the counter when trading standards officers returned a week later.
Bethan Williams, defending, said her client was “no longer associated with the premises”.
She had been in Britain since 2005 and had worked as a shop assistant, a cleaner and in a factory. The defendant apologised for the situation.
District judge Gwyn Jones told Gelatdkova, who is heavily pregnant: “You placed members of the public in danger by selling items which hadn’t been manufactured to international standards.”
He said cigarettes sold at the shop were “specifically dangerous over and above the dangers posed by ordinary, legally manufactured and legitimately purchased cigarettes”.
Judge Jones said Gelatdkova went into the venture “deliberately and with your eyes opened”.
Customers may not be fully aware of the additional harmful chemicals in the cigarettes, the court heard.
“By carrying out an unlawful activity, you were placing the viability of small, legitimate businesses in jeopardy,” said the judge.
Gelatdkova paid “scant regard” to the fact she had been spoken to by the local authority and continued her trade. She was jailed for 120 days.
see-http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/find-out-colwyn-bay-shopkeeper-11328828
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