Lostock Hall shop owner slammed by judge as he’s convicted over illicit sales

The owner of a Lostock Hall shop was strongly criticised by a judge after being repeatedly caught selling illicit cigarettes, tobacco and vapes.

Lancaster Courthouse heard that Bryar Sabar, of Ripley Close in Manchester, opened a convenience store at Hope Terrace in 2023 but within days was caught selling the counterfeit items.

He told a probation officer that he had arrived in the UK seeking asylum in 2019 and spent time studying English and working in a restaurant until 2022. He opened the shop in the following year having decided to set up his own business, despite having never run one before.

The 24-year-old said he opened the shop with the help of a £5,000 loan from his family in Iraq and had intended to earn a legitimate wage, with the Lostock Hall site chosen as it had the cheapest rent outside of Manchester.

But Sabar said that within days of opening, a man he never previously knew entered the shop and offered to sell him cheap cigarettes, with the offer of bigger profit margins tempting him in. It also led to him visiting another man in Manchester to buy an assortment of knock-off vapes for £400.

The shop owner blamed the decision on naivety and said he didn’t know what he was doing was illegal. However, he could not explain why he hid the counterfeit goods after the first visit from Trading Standards if this was the case.

In total, Bryar Sabar pleaded guilty to nine offences – five relating to selling cigarettes or tobacco not in plain packaging, one to selling unsafe vapes and two to selling goods with an imitation trademark.

Sentencing, Lancaster’s district judge said he did not accept Sabar did not know he was committing a crime and warned of the impact which can be caused by the sale of such items.

He said: “There is an epidemic sweeping this country of selling illicit, counterfeit and wrongly packaged cigarettes, tobacco and vapes. These items are often unregulated, wrongly packages and often pose a significant risk to the health of those consume these items.”

He continued: “Those risks to the young people who purchase them are huge. Between June 2023 and July 2024, you were involves in the sale of these counterfeit, dangerous products. You explained in interviews with Trading Standards and the probation service this was naivety on your part.

“You knew [it was illegal] because you stored those counterfeit items in a different section to the legitimate items in your shops. You have secreted them away so they wouldn’t be immediately obvious to any authorities coming in”.

The judge said Sabar’s guilty pleas were enough to pull him back from handing a custodial sentence and he was instead handed an 18 month community order. As part of that, he must complete 10 days of rehabilitation activities and 180 hours of unpaid work. Sabar was also banned from serving as director of any business for three years.

Subscribe: Keep in touch directly with the latest headlines from Blog Preston, join our WhatsApp channel and subscribe for our twice-a-week email newsletter. Both free and direct to your phone and inbox.