'Organised crime' claim over King's Lynn shop licence bid

A new bid to secure an alcohol sale licence for a Lynn shop has links to "organised crime", police have claimed.

Councillors will consider the latest application to secure a premises licence for the London Road Stop and Shop Grocery site at 122 London Road later this week.

But Norfolk Police say they believe previous unlawful activity will continue if the application is granted.

A letter from the force, which has been published in reports to the authority's licensing sub-committee, said there had been "several attempts" to secure a new licence for the site since its previous one was revoked three years ago.

It continues: "Each attempt has failed because it can be shown that successive applicants are linked to the operators responsible for the sale and supply of illegally-imported tobacco products.

"This latest attempt is the same. Police can show links to the original operators and their links to organised crime."

The new applicant, Hawker Ahmed Khider, insists a range of measures will be in place in order to prevent crime, public nuisance and underage sales.

He claimed no products would be bought from sellers calling at the store and a record of refused sales, on grounds of age or drunkenness, would be kept.

The application form also insisted: "All staff involved in the retail of alcohol will be trained in relation to the law regarding its sale."

It added: "Persons shall be discouraged from congregating outside of the premises."

But the police letter said: "Despite the applicants' attempt to find an otherwise unblemished character to front the operation, police fear the crime and disorder objective will not be promoted and the illegal activity will continue."

A premises licence was originally granted in June 2017, when the site operated under the name 7 Days, but was revoked in February 2019.

The licensing hearing will take place at Lynn Town Hall this Thursday, April 28, from 2pm.