TWO shopkeepers caught with more than 6,000 illegal cigarettes during a HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) crackdown have been sentenced.

Investigators discovered the non-duty paid cigarettes during searches at Uani Mini Market on Leigh Road, Leigh, and Pound Bargain in Market Street, Atherton, worth £2,727.

Uani Mini Market owner Khan Hama Yar, 29, had almost 5,000 mixed brand cigarettes and 1.4 kilos of hand-rolling tobacco in boxes in a storage area with another 580 cigarettes under the shop counter.

Maiwand Shirziar, 24, owner of Pound Bargain, was found with 880 mixed brand cigarettes and 2.5 kilos of hand-rolling tobacco, which was in a shopping trolley by the front door.

The searches in June 2018 were part of a wider operation to disrupt the sale of illegal tobacco across Leigh, Wigan, Preston and Blackpool, which saw HMRC officers visit 12 retail and self-storage premises.

Yar, of Cavendish Gardens, Bolton, said he was responsible for buying stock for his shop but did not know where the cigarettes and tobacco came from.

He had previously been stopped at Manchester Airport in September 2017, attempting to bring more than 10,000 non-duty paid cigarettes into the UK from Qatar.

The cigarettes were seized and a warning letter issued.

Yar was ordered to pay a £165 fine, £30 victim surcharge and £85 court costs following sentencing at Bolton Magistrates Court on Friday, December 7.

Shirziar, of Plymouth Avenue, Longsight, did not have a licence to sell cigarettes, but said his customers were asking for them and he did not want to lose business.

He was also stopped at Manchester Airport in May 2014 and found with 2.5 kilos of non-duty paid chewing tobacco, which was seized.

Shirziar was sentenced at Manchester Magistrates Court on Wednesday, November 28 and ordered to pay £822 compensation, a £125 fine, £30 victim surcharge and £85 court costs.

He was also banned from selling tobacco products from his Pound Bargains shop in Atherton for six months.

A HMRC spokesperson said: “There was little attempt from Yar to hide his criminal activities while Shirziar was brazen enough to leave hundreds of illegal cigarettes in open view.

“The sale of illegal tobacco will not be tolerated by us or our partner agencies.

"Disrupting criminal trade is at the heart of our strategy to clampdown on the illicit tobacco market, which costs the UK around £2.5 billion a year.

"This is theft from the taxpayer and undermines legitimate traders. We ask anyone with information about suspected tax fraud to report it online or contact our Fraud Hotline on 0800 788887.”

For information about tax fraud go to gov.uk/report-an-unregistered-trader-or-business.