A NEWPORT shop-keeper who made up to £3,000 per day from selling illegal and illicit tobacco products was jailed for two years and eight months yesterday.

Majid Alshateri, aged 41, of Oxney Road, Peterborough had pleaded guilty to charges of possessing goods with a false trademark and participating in fraudulent activities.

Appearing on the same charges at Newport Crown Court, Hussain Karim, 28, Caerleon Road, Newport, received a 24-month suspended sentence after also pleading guilty.

Operating from 58 Commercial Street, the pair sold counterfeit cigarettes and tobacco products, discovered through test purchases from December 12, 2013 to January 15, 2015.

The court heard that Alshateri took over ownership of the premises in May 2012, followed by reports of illegal and illicit tobacco products being sold in December 2013, while Karim worked in a sales capacity.

Prosecuting, Lee Reynolds said: “On January 13, 2015, a test purchase found a packet of 20 Mayfair cigarettes on sale for £3.50, usually priced at £7.65 and hand rolled tobacco well below its normal retail price.

“The store made upwards of £3,000 per day, but this obviously varied through the year.”

Mr Reynolds added Newport Trading Standards had interviewed Alshateri in December 2014 and he had previously claimed to be unaware that the tobacco was counterfeit.

He told them it was bought from "Eastern European males with no distinguishing marks from a Vauxhall car".

During a raid on January 15, 2015, Newport Trading Standards officers found Karim around the back of the premises with £3,300 on his person, which he claimed to be taking to the cash and carry, the alleged location by Alshateri where he purchased his tobacco for his store, the court heard.

Matthew Cobbe, defending Alshateri, said: “He came to the UK as a refugee from Iraq as he wanted a better life for himself and family.”

James Tucker, defending Karim, said: “He was in a difficult position as he was unable to work and he need money to help his partner, who was expecting their first arrival at the time.”

Summing up, judge David Wynn Morgan said of Alshateri, “it was the brazen way you went about this business as you had been interviewed on the matter before,” before sentencing him to two years eight months in prison, of which he will serve half.

The judge said of Karim, “you found yourself in a difficult position as you were struggling to find work and desperate for cash,” before passing a 24-month suspended sentence, including an electronically tagged three-month curfew from 7pm to 7am at his current property.