THREE Liverpool off- licences had their licences suspended after being caught selling smuggled vodka, whisky and wine.
Freshways, which has shops in Hatton Garden, London Road and Walton’s Cherry Avenue, had its licence to sell alcohol suspended pending a full review by councillors next month.
A raid by Liverpool council’s trading standards officers on the Hatton Garden premises on October 13 found 53 bottles of vodka, 22 bottles of whisky and 84 bottles of wine being sold at very cheap prices.
They did not have Customs duty paid on them.
More raids on the other two Freshways outlets discovered 97 bottles of vodka, 24 bottles of whisky and 115 bottles of wine, all of which were being sold illegally.
Raids on all three shops in June had seen 124 bottles of vodka which were suspected to be counterfeit seized.
Manager and licence holder Shamuganthan Thaylan admitted he paid “little” for the alcohol and had advised his staff to try and buy stock cheaply when he appeared before the council’s licensing committee.
