Guilty: bootleg Herefordshire cigarette seller admits six charges

Kazem Mahmoud Hamakarim entered guilty pleas to six charges when he appeared before magistrates in Hereford on March 7.

The court heard from the prosecutor that Hamakarim had supplied 649 packets of cigarettes and 57 pouches of rolling tobacco, which did not carry a combined health warning in Ross-on-Wye between May 21, 2021, and October 19, 2021.

The cigarettes and tobacco also did not comply with regulations in terms of the UK plain packaging requirements.

The 52-year-old had supplied 105 packets of Richmond cigarettes, 241 packets of Benson and Hedges cigarettes, 84 packets of Mayfair cigarettes, 136 packets of Marlboro Gold and 46 pouches of Amber Leaf, bearing, or the packaging of which bore, a sign identical to or likely to be mistaken for a registered trade mark in Ross between the same dates, the court heard.

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Hamakarim had also supplied four packets of Queen cigarettes and two packets of Benson and Hedges cigarettes which did not carry a combined health warning in Ross between August 5, 2021, and October 1, 2021, and which did not comply with regulations in regards to the colour and shade of the packaging.

The court also heard that he had sold two packets of cigarettes which bore packaging likely to be mistaken for a registered trade mark, namely Benson and Hedges, in Ross on August 24.

The case was adjourned for a pre-sentencing report to be carried out and Hamakarim, of Wilbraham Road, Manchester, was released on unconditional bail.

He will appear before magistrates in Hereford for sentencing on April 4.