A BRIDGWATER shopkeeper has been convicted of possession with intent to supply illegal tobacco in his shops following an investigation.

Mehmet Turan Yilderim, 46, of The International Food Centre, Binford Place, Bridgwater, was found guilty of four charges, relating to trade mark offences, customs evasion and licensing offences.

Magistrates were told that on March 7, 2015 officers from Trading Standards, visited the shop along with Avon and Somerset Police and Scamp, a dog provided by Smoke Free South West of Local Public Health Authorities.

Scamp is specially trained to search for concealed tobacco, and he found it in a locked room.

In total 9kg of hand rolling tobacco and 200 packets of cigarettes were seized with an estimated retail value of £3,471.

Trading Standards said: "The smuggled products were produced for the Polish and Lithuanian markets, the provenance of the counterfeit product is unknown."

Appearing at Taunton magistrates Court, Mr Yilderim’s previous good character and financial situation were taken into consideration before he was sentenced to a community order for a year with 60 hours unpaid work, and ordered to pay £200 costs, plus a £60 victims surcharge.

An application by Trading Standards to the magistrates to revoke Mr Yilderim’s personal licence to sell alcohol was refused.

Cllr David Hall, deputy leader of Somerset County Council said: “These are serious criminal offences.

"Illegal sales of tobacco in the South West have a huge impact on people’s health. When sold at considerably below the price of legal product they undermine efforts to reduce the prevalence of smoking.

"They encourage people who want to quit to maintain their habit. We will not tolerate the illegal sales of tobacco and will continue to take firm action to stop this type of activity by using our enforcement powers against those we catch."

Cllr Roger Croad stressed the important role that the public can play in reporting suspicious activity.

He said: “Our officers routinely act on intelligence we receive, as they did in this case, so I would encourage consumers to continue to report those involved in selling illicit tobacco because their valuable information can significantly aid our investigations.”