Bolton shop owner claims he 'didn't know' about illegal tobacco sales

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

A shop has lost its licence to serve alcohol after its owner failed to show at two hearings about illicit tobacco allegedly found on his premises last year.Halliwell Off Licence, also known as Sultania News, had its premises licence revoked following an online hearing which the licence holder failed to attend.Shuaib Ahmed also failed to attend a court hearing last October, according to officers who told the panel that a warrant has been issued for him to appear.Bolton Council trading standards officers visited the shop with a tobacco detection dog on March 27, 2019 and interviewed Mr Ahmed on May 1.In total, 139 packets of cigarettes and seven packets of hand rolling tobacco were seized from the shop on the day, but Mr Ahmed said he did not.