An Acton shop owner and his company have been ordered to pay more than £15,600 after hundreds of packets of illegal tobacco were found hidden inside a supermarket.
Aljanaby Food Limited, which runs Marrakech Supermarket at 140 Churchfield Road, and its director Khalid Abdulmunim Faisal Al Janaby were prosecuted by Ealing Council following an investigation by its Trading Standards team.
Council officers visited the shop on 29 October 2025 and bought two packets of tobacco which broke UK packaging rules and had no health warnings.
They returned six days later with a sniffer dog and found more illegal tobacco behind the counter and in a specially-built hiding place. They seized 511 packets of cigarettes and 69 packets of rolling tobacco, worth an estimated £3,756.
At Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court last month (28 July 2026), Mr Al Janaby pleaded guilty for himself and the company. They were fined £4,000 each, with a £3,200 victim surcharge and £4,483.30 in council costs bringing the total bill to £15,683.30. The tobacco was ordered to be destroyed.
Magistrates said Mr Al Janaby had been prosecuted for similar offences in 2019 and believed he had been making money from the illegal sales.
Councillor Kamaljit Nagpal, Ealing Council’s cabinet member for decent living incomes, said: “These products undermine public health measures, harm legitimate businesses, and can help fund wider criminal activity.”
