Express & Star

Shop in Birmingham 'sold illegal booze'

A convenience shop has been accused of selling stolen booze and illegal cigarettes following a police raid.

Published
The shop is accused of selling illegal alcohol

Five bottles of spirits still with security tags fitted were discovered at Wheeler Street Foodstore in the Newtown part of Birmingham when licensing officers from West Midlands Police and the city council attended.

One of the bottles was still wrapped in kitchen foil, which is used by shoplifters to beat the electronic detection devices at shops.

During the inspection in April officers also found 188 packets of illegal cigarettes, displaying an unknown foreign language and no English writing or health warnings, behind the till.

Dharminder Gulati, who is the licence holder of the shop, was not present at the time but later visited the force’s headquarters and claimed a member of staff had bought the stolen alcohol on the morning of the raid.

He said he had issued a warning to the employee but not sacked them because they were related.

Mr Gulati also claimed the cigarettes had been given to him by someone who had since gone back to live in Iraq.

Police asked him for copies of the shop’s CCTV footage to verify his version of events but Mr Gulati later wrote to the force to say there had been a fault with the recording system.

In a statement, licensing officer PC Deano Walker said: “The visit we carried out was intelligence based received via Birmingham City Council that the store was selling illicit alcohol, cigarettes and were also selling to local street drinkers who were causing anti-social behaviour.

“What was found / seen at the store during this visit appears to confirm the intelligence was correct.”

He added the unavailability of the CCTV was an ‘unfortunate coincidence’ and said Mr Gulati’s explanation ‘does not stand up’.

PC Walker concluded saying revoking the shop’s premises licence to sell alcohol was the ‘only way forward’.

A Birmingham City Council licensing sub committee will review the matter on Monday.