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Swift justice for ciggie swindlers
ILLEGAL cigarette sellers had a taste of swift justice on Wednesday – 24 hours after being arrested they were starting three-month prison sentences.
Mamoud Kadiri and Bahzar Sabir, described by police as “prolific offenders”, both pleaded guilty at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court.
They were arrested on Tuesday morning and ‘fast-tracked’ through the justice system.
Magistrates had previously handed down community services orders to the pair, who were operating around the Nag’s Head in Holloway.
In the past six months, officers have seized 1,408,340 counterfeit cigarettes with a street value of £176,843 and 171 kilograms of tobacco worth £17,050 from sellers at the Nag’s Head.
A further 32,817 fake DVDs worth £164,685 have been confiscated.
Wednesday’s convictions mark a tough new approach for the Nag’s Head Unit, which is led by Sergeant Stuart Simpson.
So effective has the crackdown been that FACT, the anti-copyright watchdog, has commended the team and given them £500, which has been donated to Grafton primary school. All sellers arrested are charged under trading standards and counterfeit goods laws.
Police are also targeting smokers who buy the cigarettes, warning they could be charged under the same legislation.
The majority of those arrested are Iraqi or Kurds, many of who are asylum seekers. Sergeant Simpson has tapped into this by writing articles for Iraqi and Kurdish language newspapers.
In the pieces, he warns that those seeking asylum will have their application automatically rejected if they have a criminal conviction in this country.
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