Police oppose businessman suspected of selling illicit tobacco at Northampton shop taking over Rushden store

A businessman suspected of selling illicit tobacco at a Northampton shop should not be allowed to take over a Rushden shop which police also suspect is doing the same, the force has said.

Northamptonshire Police said tobacco test purchasers bought from Nasz Sklep in Alexandra Terrace, Northampton on three occasions between September 2021 and January 2022 had no duty paid on it.

Dana Kamal, from Northampton, was the sole director of a company that ran the shop from October 2020 until March 2022, when it was dissolved.

An application has been made for Mr Kamal to take over USA Off Licence, in High Street, Rushden. That shop is also known as International Supermarket.

But officers said that in October 2022, trading standards officers and police visited the shop unannounced and found 16,680 cigarettes and 211 packets of rolling tobacco which had not had any duty paid on them. The tobacco would have been worth about £9,200 if duty had been paid, police said.

In a submission to North Northamptonshire Council’s licensing sub-committee, Northamptonshire Police’s alcohol licensing constable David Bryan said the force is ‘not confident’ Mr Kamal or the shop would be run according to licensing objectives.

The council committee is due to meet on Friday to see if it will allow the takeover.