News Peckham prosecution over illegal pesticides A businessman selling a banned pesticide product from a shop in Peckham has been ned a total of 20,000 at the Inner London Crown Court, following a prosecution by Southwark Council. He was also ordered to pay 3,000 costs and a 120 surcharge. Akbar Khan, director of Khans Bargain in Rye Lane, London, had pleaded guilty to two offences of breaching EU Biocidal product regulations at Camberwell Green Magistrates Court on 23 January. The offences took place in June 2014 and concerned a product called Sniper DDVP, of which nine bottles were found on sale in the store on 30 June. These were labelled as containing Dichlorvos (also known as DDVP or dichlorovinyl-dimethylphosphate). DDVP is a highly toxic organophosphate that has been banned from general sale in the UK since 2002 and throughout Europe since 2012. The magistrates heard that Khan had previously been cautioned for the sale of other illegal pesticides in 2013. The case was deemed serious enough to be referred to the crown court for sentencing. The incident promoted inspections at discount and hardware shops across the area and a further 140 illegal pesticide products were seized from nine premises. These included 44 more bottles of Sniper, as well as banned Naphthalene mothballs and unlicensed y killers. Khans Bargain also pleaded guilty to one charge under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 for an unrelated offence over duty of care in respect of waste from the shop. The company was ned 400. Councillor Michael Situ, cabinet member for community safety, said: Mr Khan showed little regard for the law and the health and safety of his customers, many of whom are local residents. Thanks to the hard work of our trading standards team and the local police, he will now be made to face the harsh consequence of his actions. Staffordshire takes on illicit tobacco of its ongoing work to combat illicit tobacco and alcohol. A policy of higher tobacco prices encourages smokers to give up, dissuades people from starting to smoke and reduces tobacco consumption overall. But where illicit products are widely available at low cost, the policy is undermined. Illegal tobacco also poses a more serious risk to health as there is often no control on content or quality. Mike Lawrence, Staffordshire County Councils community safety leader, said: This operation over the last 12 months has seen significant successes. We want people to understand the real harm illicit tobacco has on peoples health. In addition, we know its sale funds organised crime. I am pleased to say the proceeds of crime funding will continue into 2015/16. 186PIX / SHUTTERSTOCK Staffordshire officers are celebrating a successful year combating fakes and harmful products. In 2014/15 they seized more than 120,000 counterfeit and illicit cigarettes, with a street value of around 64,000. The operation was funded using Proceeds of Crime returns, which allowed the team to apply an intelligence-led approach. Last year, 35,000 was awarded to the county council in recognition Jail for Birmingham jeweller A Birmingham jeweller was sentenced to 10 weeks imprisonment after pleading guilty to 21 offences under the Hallmarking Act 1973 and Trade Marks Act 1994. During sentencing at Birmingham Crown Court, Umran Rafiq, trading as Asian Jewellers, was also ordered to pay 10,763 in costs, plus a further 60,000 under the Proceeds of Crime Act, and to complete 60 hours unpaid work. Birmingham City Council brought the case against Rafiq after trading standards officers seized 22 pieces of jewellery during an inspection in January 2012. The items were submitted for examination by the Assay Office and relevant trademark holders. Of the 22 items, 14 were not hallmarked, while eight rings bore trademarks for BMW, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, Nike and Playboy, which Rafiq did not have permission to use. Councillor Barbara Dring, chairman of Birmingham City Councils licensing and public protection committee, said: People should be able to have confidence when they are buying valuable goods, like gold jewellery, that they are of the quality they purport to be. A number of the rings seized by our officers also broke regulations on the use of trademarks, which consumers may not be aware of but this is why its important for trading standards to take action and bring cases like this to the publics attention. Global brands that have been built up over decades of hard work do not deserve to be damaged as a result of their logos being used on inferior or unlicensed products. Confiscation order for Surrey counterfeiter Sixty-one-year-old Trevor Arthur Pegg, of Epsom, Surrey, has been handed a conscation order at Guildford Crown Court. The counterfeiter was jailed for three years in January, thanks to an investigation by ofcers from Buckinghamshire and Surrey Trading Standards. He was convicted on 13 counts relating to the running of a fraudulent business selling counterfeit DVDs on eBay and Play.com Pegg was transported from prison to appear before His Honour Judge Robert Fraser at a conscation hearing under the provisions of the Proceeds of Crime Act. The court concluded that the benet gure for Pegg from his criminal activity was 593,117 and consequently made a conscation order for that sum. Assets including two mortgagefree houses will now be sold. The court allowed Pegg six months to satisfy the order, or face an additional custodial sentence in default, of three and a half years. Fraser reminded Pegg that the debt would still remain even if he is sentenced in default, and could increase with interest.