Bristol shopkeeper found guilty of selling illegal vapes, cigarettes and tobacco

Halwurst Hussain (35) of Lawrence Hill and sole director of Filwood Broadway Groceries Ltd, has been sentenced to a 12-month community order and 120 hours unpaid work for selling and possessing illegal oversized vapes and illicit tobacco.

He appeared at Bristol Crown Court on December 12 after previously pleading guilty to 18 offences relating to tobacco and illegal vapes at Bristol Magistrates Court.

During an inspection at Filwood International Mini Market on Filwood Broadway in October 2024, Trading Standards officers found and seized 1,584 oversized illegal vapes, 455 packets of cigarettes and 22 pouches of rolling tobacco.

A further 546 illegal vapes were found during a follow up visit in December 2024.

The seized items had an estimated street value of £20,000, and in total, 30 varieties of tobacco were seized.

Many were either counterfeit, illegally imported or did not have the required health warnings on the packets. Some of the vapes seized contained up to ten times the 2ml legal limit of nicotine e-liquid and none had been approved for sale in UK by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

Councillor Stephen Williams, Chair of the Public Health and Communities Committee, said: “The sale of Illegal vapes and illicit tobacco causes real harm, putting people’s health at risk and defrauding the government of the taxes needed to fund the health service. This verdict and sentence sends a clear message that there is no place for the sale of non-compliant products in Bristol.

“I would like to thank our Trading Standards team and the police for their continued work to protect residents from rogue traders. We will keep taking action to hold anyone selling illegal products to account.”