Cowley Road shop fined thousands for selling illegal tobacco and vape products
Trading standards investigations uncovered illegal items hidden in sealed compartments.
A shop on Cowley Road, Oxford has been fined thousands of pounds after illegal tobacco and vape products were found hidden in the premises during several inspections.
The former owner and director of Khalifa Super Store Ltd, 38-year-old Yadgar Ghafour of Phillip Street, Chester, pleaded guilty to all offences at Oxford Magistrates’ Court on Friday (28 November) and was ordered to pay £3,907.24 in fines and costs.
Current owner and director, Muhemed Hussain, aged 54, also admitted to all offences on behalf of the company, which was fined £17,616.24.
Trading standards officers from Oxfordshire County Council inspected the store multiple times over the years. An inspection on 1st May 2024 uncovered 160 cigarettes, 35 packs of shisha tobacco, 865 vapes, and 122 unit packs of nicotine pouches. The vapes and shisha, they said, were concealed by electromagnet-sealed compartments that had to be forced open.
Many of the items seized were found to violate regulations, including nicotine pouches labelled in foreign languages rather than English, smuggled tobacco, and vapes containing up to nine times the permitted maximum nicotine liquid capacity.
The company changed ownership several times during the investigation period. On 21st January 2025, officers returned to the premises under Mr Ghafour’s ownership and seized 121 packs of nicotine pouches that failed safety labelling requirements.
Following two covert test purchases, another inspection took place on 16th March 2025, when officers discovered further concealments built into shelving units. Inside, they found vapes with nicotine capacities of 10ml and 20ml—five to 10 times the legal limit—as well as smuggled waterpipe tobacco.
Mr Hussain, the current owner and sole director of Khalifa Super Store Ltd, has been running the shop under the name Khalifa Supermarket since buying the company from Mr Ghafour on 21st March 2025.