Barry stores used to sell more than £1.5m of illegal tobacco

Members of a South Wales Organised Crime Group (OCG) which sold illegal tobacco, cigarettes and Nitrous Oxide while money-laundering more than £1.5m were sentenced today to a total of 25 years of immediate imprisonment and nine years as suspended sentences, at Swansea Crown Court.

The criminal group operated their business from at least seven shops in South Wales including Barry Stores, Tynewydd Road; European Shop, Holton Road; and World and Food Ltd, Holton Road.

During the investigation, officers from Cardiff, and Bridgend and Vale councils' Shared Regulatory Services (SRS) seized £600,000 of illegal tobacco, based on market cost, along with £12,500 worth of Nitrous Oxide cannisters.

The operation against the gang began in February 2020, following intelligence that several shops in the South Wales area were selling illegal tobacco and Nitrous Oxide.

Significant amounts of cigarettes and tobacco were seized initially, but the shops appeared to restock immediately, and continued to sell the illegal products to the local community, including children.

The gang used the shops as a front, appearing to sell genuine products and other legitimate produce, but in fact, an intricate subterfuge was being carried out with flats above the shops and other hidden spaces used to hide huge amounts of illegal tobacco which was being sold to customers.

Two men from Barry were involved in the operation to money launder and sell illegal products (Image: Google Maps)

The court heard that at a conservative estimate, each shop was making approximately £1000 a day from selling illegal tobacco and Nitrous Oxide, with the total value of illegal sales estimated at £3.8m.

Some of the illegal tobacco was stored in Safestore units or in the defendant's homes, with the tobacco and cigarettes being moved in cars with blacked out windows to the shops and the flats above late at night or in the early hours of the morning.

The illegal tobacco was often stored in large, concealed spaces in the shops or the flats.

A shop on Tynewydd Road was also involved (Image: Google Maps)

Powerful, remote controlled, electric magnets were used to unlock these spaces which were invisible to the human eye and only found by using sniffer dogs and by breaking through walls.

Other techniques the gang used to deliver their products included electric winches and plastic tubes linking the shop with the flat above, with tobacco being passed down a tube when a customer made a purchase.

Ten members of the OCG listed below were sentenced for carrying out a ‘business for a fraudulent purpose' to the value of £1.8 million between September 6, 2013, until February 5, 2022.

An eleventh, Karwan Mohammadi, was sentenced for the same offence, but over a shorter period of time, between January 7th, 2020, and February 25th, 2022. The sentence for each defendant is given below:

• Ali Khaleel Hassan Aldarawish, 34, from Albany Road, Roath, Cardiff, was sentenced to 7 years imprisonment.
• Shwan Kamal Sofizada, 32, from Caeglass Road, Rumney, Cardiff, was sentenced to six years imprisonment.
• Abdulla Laksari, 37, from Alice Street, Butetown, Cardiff, was sentenced to six years imprisonment.
• Farhard (Farman) Sofizadeh, 32, from High Street, Barry, was sentenced to three years imprisonment.
• Saman Abobakir Sedik, 45, from High View Bridgend, was sentenced to three years imprisonment.
• Karwan Mohammadi, 31, from Canton Court, Riverside, Cardiff, was sentenced to two years suspended for 12 months with an unpaid work requirement of 150 hours of unpaid work.
• Mariwam Mohammed, 38, from Gold Street, Adamsdown, Cardiff, was sentenced to 19 months imprisonment suspended for 12 months with 150 hours unpaid work and a 10-day rehabilitation requirement.
• Aiysha Bibi, 24, from High Street, Barry, was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment suspended for 18 months with a 20-day rehabilitation requirement.
• (Name and details redacted due to ongoing court proceedings) will be sentenced at a later date.
• Rebin Hatam Ahmed, 32, from Drayton Street, Walsall, was sentenced to 19 months suspended for 12 months with unpaid work requirement of 100 hours and a 10-day rehabilitation requirement.
• Alan Abdullah, 23, from Fleetwood Road, Leicester, was sentenced to two years suspended for 12 months with 100 hours of unpaid work and a 10-day rehabilitation requirement.