A mini-mart in Crewe has been linked to a UK-wide Kurdish organised crime network exploiting asylum seekers and selling illegal cigarettes and vapes, a BBC investigation has revealed.

Undercover reporters posing as asylum seekers were offered the chance to buy the Top Store on Nantwich Road for £18,000 cash.

The shopkeeper, known as Surchi, claimed he made up to £3,000 a week selling illegal tobacco and said asylum seekers could run the shop "without any paperwork."

He admitted paying a Birmingham man, Hadi Ahmad Ali, about £250 a month to keep the business registered in his name – a so-called "ghost director."

BBC's Ed Thomas confronts Surchi of Top Store mini-mart on Nantwich Road in Crewe (Photo: BBC).

Mr Ahmad Ali is listed on Companies House as director of more than 50 businesses nationwide, many already linked to illegal vape and tobacco sales.

When confronted by the BBC, Surchi insisted he had the right to work but failed to show proof.

He also showed reporters how he had tampered with the electricity meter and used a car outside the shop to hide and store illegal stock from Trading Standards.

The BBC found the Crewe shop was part of a wider network of more than 100 businesses, stretching from Dundee to Devon, all sharing the same fake directors and selling counterfeit products.

Financial crime expert, Graham Barrow, said the network showed "all the red flags of organised criminality."

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: "Illegal working and linked organised criminality creates an incentive for people to come here illegally. We will not stand for it.

"The government has seized millions of pounds worth of unlicensed goods, banned dodgy directors and removed more than 35,000 people;e with no right to be in the UK."

Surchi used a car outside the shop to hide and store illegal stock from Trading Standards (Photo: BBC).

Trading Standards confirmed shops linked to the network had been fined for selling counterfeit cigarettes and vapes, some to children as young as 12.

Officials say the trade in illegal tobacco and vapes costs the UK more than £2.2 billion a year in lost revenue.

The Home Office has confirmed it is investigating the findings.

Crewe Nub News has contacted Connor Naismith MP for comment on the BBC investigation.

READ MORE: Plans to convert former Crewe pub and hotel into new restaurant.

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