A TOWN centre shop could lose its licence after police found untaxed alcohol at the store.

Officers have also alleged they discovered counterfeit tobacco in a false panel behind the till at Wisla Supermarket on John William Street.

Police have asked Kirklees Council to revoke the Polish shop’s licence at a special meeting next week.

Officers have found untaxed alcohol and cigarettes six times since the shop opened last year.

Pc Richard Farrand visited Wisla Supermarket on August 5 along with customs officers.

In a report to Kirklees Council he said he found two cases each of Tyskie, Lech and Debowe beer at the back of the shop.

Pc Farrand said Wisla manager Rozghar Sharif was “unable to produce any invoices for the beer.” The alcohol was seized by customs officers who believed it was untaxed.

Pc Farrand added: “I was present when a search was made at the counter. A secret panel was discovered behind the counter.

“Behind a panel there was secreted a quantity of tobacco products. These being 460 cigarettes and 800 grammes of hand-rolling tobacco on which no duty had been paid.”

Pc Farrand said West Yorkshire Trading Standards officers inspected the tobacco and considered it to be counterfeit.

The police officer added that a CCTV camera covering the back of the counter had been disconnected while another camera pointing at the till had been moved “so as not to cover transactions.”

Police and licensing officers visited the shop six times between September 2010 and August 5 of this year.

They seized 5,780 cigarettes, 1,050 grammes of tobacco, 23.9 litres of vodka and 60 litres of beer. The goods had a taxable value of £1,392.78.

But Mr Sharif, 28, told the Examiner yesterday that he hadn’t bought the untaxed goods.

“Some customers had been on holiday to Poland and they brought back some duty-free,” he said. “A member of staff bought these goods off them. I didn’t know about that.”

Mr Sharif said he sacked the worker on August 7 after finding out about the purchase.

“I was shocked and angry,” he said. “I told him he shouldn’t have done that to my business.”

Mr Sharif added that the dismissed worker had also hidden the counterfeit tobacco in the panel behind the till.

The Fartown man also explained why he had turned the CCTV camera away from the till.

“If I’m working on the till, I don’t need to record myself, I need to see who’s coming into the shop,” he said.

Mr Sharif added that police visited his shop last week and didn’t find any untaxed goods.

The council’s Licensing Panel will meet at Huddersfield Town Hall from 9.30am next Tuesday.

Police have asked councillors to revoke Wisla’s licence to serve alcohol.

Mr Sharif said: “I hope I don’t lose my licence. It was my worker who did something wrong, not me”.