A HEREFORD shop with a "notorious reputation" for selling illicit products sold counterfeit cigarettes for months, a court heard.

Undercover trading standards officers were able to buy the goods from International Food on Commercial Road over a seven month period.

The former owner, Rekan Gafoor, has now been fined after admitting the offences at Hereford Magistrates' Court.

The court heard how Herefordshire Council's trading standards team carried out eight test purchases over a seven month period.

Gafoor, who is 29, was sentenced to 100 hours' unpaid work and must pay costs of £800 after admitting the breaches under consumer protection legislation.

The court heard International Food has been found to be selling cheap illicit tobacco products over the past four years under various owners.

"Mr Gafoor took over the running of the shop in February 2014, following a raid on the premises where illegal cigarettes were found hidden inside doors, in walls and under floors," said the council's head of trading standards and licensing, Mike Pigrem.

"Despite the verbal assurances given by Mr Gafoor that he would not sell illicit tobacco, it soon became evident that these were false.

“These premises have acquired a notorious reputation for selling illicit product and are therefore the target of repeated enforcement action.

“Where evidence is obtained confirming possession or a sale of illicit product, then the matter will be put before the courts for sentencing.

"The sale and supply of illicit tobacco is a national problem which has a serious impact on both the health and wealth of the nation."

At a meeting of Herefordshire Council's Regulatory Committee last week, Mr Pigrem warned those thinking of buying illicit cigarettes that they might do more harm than first thought.

"There are suggestions the filters do not self-extinguish and could cause fires in homes," he said.

Meanwhile, Herefordshire's trading standards officers have had 400kg of seized illicit cigarettes and tobacco destroyed at a recycling plant.

The illegal goods represented £60,000 of illegal products seized in the past two years.