A 26 year old Preston man has admitted being involved in a fake cigarette sales racket in Gloucester.

The crime involved thousands of packets of cigarettes falsely branded as Mayfair, Richmond and Amber Leaf and hundreds of pouches of rolling tobacco described wrongly as Golden Virginia.

Hawkar Muhammed of Watling Street Road, Preston pleaded guilty at Gloucester Crown Court yesterday to charges of possessing counterfeit cigarettes and rolling tobacco, evading duty and breaching trademark copyrights.

The offences were committed at various properties in Falkner Street and Eastgate Street, Gloucester between November 28, 2017 and June 28, 2018.

The charges involved some 3,307 packets of 20 cigarettes and 2,228 pouches of 50 grams of rolling tobacco.

Co-defendant Ahmed Ebrahim, 28, of Falkner Street, Gloucester pleaded guilty to all charges and will attend court on August 27 for sentencing.

Salim Osman, 30, of Holyhead Road, Birmingham has pleaded not guilty and will stand trial on August 27.

Mr Muhammed will be sentenced after the trial.

All three were granted conditional bail.