Kubus Polski in Swindon may lose its alcohol license after a police raid uncovered illegal vapes, tobacco, and alcohol.
The court shut the shop down for three months. This happened right after the police raid in November. Towana Abdullah holds the shop’s license to sell alcohol.
The council’s sub-committee will now review that license. Police seized many items during the raid. They seized 1,294 vapes that did not meet UK rules. The vapes were worth about £14,000. Police found over two kilograms of untaxed shisha. They also seized over 45 liters of untaxed alcohol.
Police arrested two staff members who worked at the shop. Police said they did a test purchase before. Trading standards officers bought untaxed tobacco then. In 2019, police seized a lot from Manchester Road shops. They seized 102,000 cigarettes and 11kg of tobacco.
Police think the license should be taken away. They believe this protects the public. The sub-committee talked about this earlier in December. Mr. Abdullah said he appealed the closure order. It is expiring this week.
Mr. Abdullah wanted to delay reviewing the license. He claimed he was out of the country when police visited. He wanted the chance to fix things at the shop. The committee worried about the legality of their license decision. They worried if the court dropped the closure order.
The sub-committee will meet this week again. Members learned Abdullah withdrew his appeal. His lawyer admitted he knew about the illegal activity. The meeting is set for Thursday afternoon. The court-ordered shutdown ends the day before.