A man accused of trademark offences over hundreds of thousands of cigarettes and has denied all charges and will appear at crown court.

Azem Ahmed, 26, has denied all 21 offences of which he is accused. He will appear at Teesside Crown Court later this month.

He is charged with having cigarettes or tobacco with unauthorised trademarks in his “possession, custody or control in the course of a business” with a view to selling the goods in November 2021.

These 12 charges include 75,440 Richmond, 69,260 Regal, 40,420 L&B and 14,800 JPS cigarettes. According to Stockton Council, prosecuting, these “bore, or the packaging of which bore, a sign identical to, or likely to be mistaken for, a registered trade mark” under the Trade Marks Act 1994.

And he faces eight charges of producing or supplying tobacco products, including 8,720 Benson & Hedges Switch and 1,920 Marlboro Gold cigarettes and 552 pouches containing 27.6kg of Turner tobacco, which did not comply with packaging regulations.

All these 20 charges date to November 25, 2021.

He is also charged with one alleged offence of selling trademarked goods, 20 Superking cigarettes, without the proprietor’s consent in March 2021, also under the Trade Marks Act.

Some of the charges relate to the Norton Shop on Norton Road, Stockton while others relate to a flat on the same road.

Ahmed, of Vicarage Ave, Stockton, pleaded not guilty to all charges at a hearing at Teesside Magistrates’ Court earlier this month. He was given unconditional bail until a hearing at Teesside Crown Court on May 30.