Officers raided the St Levan home of a man supplying illegal tobacco after discovering text messages sent to local pub sellers, a court has heard.

Samuel Brown, 61, of The Vineries, St Levan, near Land’s End, appeared before Truro Magistrates Court on Wednesday, August 10, where he admitted to being involved in the supply of illegal tobacco, evading tax and obstructing trading standards officers in the course of their investigation.

The court heard that an investigation was launched by Cornwall Council’s trading standards when text messages were found that showed Brown to be supplying tobacco to people who were known to sell through pubs and from their homes.

An entry warrant was executed at Brown’s home address in January this year and a quantity of foreign hand-rolling tobacco, eight mobile phones and £1,600 in cash were seized. Diaries and notebooks recovered also confirmed the distribution network.

Magistrates described the offences as serious but gave Brown credit for admitting his guilt at the first opportunity. He was sentenced to a three month curfew with electronic tag, ordered to pay £1,997 prosecution costs and a victim surcharge. Brown also agreed to forfeit the mobile phones, the tobacco and the cash seized during the search of his home.

Geoff Brown, Cornwall Council cabinet member for communities, said: “This was not a case of prosecuting the man in the pub who offers cheap cigarettes and tobacco – this was the man who was supplying the man in the pub and several others like him.

"Far from being a victimless crime, the supply of illegal tobacco poses a real threat to our local communities. The low prices and absence of sales restrictions makes it easier for children to start smoking. The illegal products usually don’t carry the health warnings that serve to encourage smokers to quit, making it more difficult to reduce the rates of smoking-related disease and illness. Illegal sales of tobacco often attract other criminal behaviour and undesirable visitors to the area and honest retailers cannot compete with illegal tobacco sellers, causing local businesses and the Cornwall economy to suffer.”

Anyone with further information about the supply of illegal tobacco can email trading standards in confidence via report-it@cornwall.gov.uk