Jaza Ahmad, 41, claimed he was simply letting someone else store boxes in his shed – but trading standards officers and Humberside Police found more than 155,000 illegal cigarettes worth almost £183,000 inside
Jaza Ahmad, of Lorne Close, Hull, was given a six-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, for possession of illegal cigarettes(Image: Submitted)
More than a hundred thousand illegal cigarettes were found stored in a garden shed in a sting that involved trading standards officers and Humberside Police. Jaza Ahmad originally denied possessing the haul, saying he was allowing someone else to store the boxes on his property. He was found guilty of possessing the tobacco products and given a six-month suspended sentence at Hull Crown Court on Friday.
Ahmad, 41, of Lorne Close, Hull, was convicted at a previous trial of two charges, unauthorised use of a trademark and possession of incorrectly labelled tobacco products. Ahmad was convicted in a trial in his absence at the lower courts. The court heard he planned to appeal the conviction but did not log his appeal in due time.
On 14 November 2024, officers from trading standards and Humberside Police attended Ahmad’s Lord Close home. The trading standards team noticed a shed in the rear yard of the home. Ahmad’s wife answered the door and told officers that her husband was out taking their older child to school. The defendant agreed to return right away.
Oliver Shipley, prosecuting, said: “The shed in the meantime was opened with the aid of a locksmith and on opening the door it was clear that the shed was full of boxes of cigarettes. In total 155,060 cigarettes were seized and of that figure that includes 1,285 50g pouches of the Turner Original tobacco. 28,800 were confirmed, following expert analysis, to be counterfeit.”
“Notwithstanding the officers were told that the defendant was returning home the defendant never showed up. The trading standards officer has declared that if the cigarettes and tobacco seized were sold at legitimate prices the total value would be £182,466.13.”
When Ahmad was interviewed by police he stated that he allowed a Romanian male to store boxes in his shed and he was “angry that they were illegal or counterfeit cigarettes”.
In a statement read out to the court, the trading standards officer said he has seen an “exponential rise in business premises in the Hull area trading in illegal cigarettes and tobacco” in the eight years he has been in the job. “These products are stored elsewhere, as is the case here, in order to minimise their losses when enforcement action occurs. The sums of money that can be made is huge. It is viewed as a high reward, low risk operation when compared to other illegal activities.”
He said the general public does not view this as “serious or as antisocial as other types of crimes”. In 2025, officers in the area recovered in excess of four million illegal cigarettes, which the officer believed to be “the highest in the United Kingdom”. The court heard how the illegal cigarettes added up to £103,000 in evaded taxes.
In mitigation, the court heard: “He is able to pay his bills, pay his rent and maintain his family. There is not a great deal leftover. After household bills he would be able to afford £50 per month.”
Recorder Gordon Stables said: “These offences are not victimless. They make cigarettes available at a cheap price and that goes against the government’s policy of trying to persuade people on account of a high price to cut down on their smoking or to give up. These offences also undermine legitimate businesses, people who are trying to make a living.”
He gave Ahmad a jail sentence of six months, suspended for two years, for possession of illegal cigarettes, and a sentence of one month, suspended for two years, to run concurrently, for unauthorised use of a trademark. Ahmad was given a curfew order and must remain at his home from 7pm to 7am for four months, and must pay £2,400 in costs.
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