A Cardiff businessman has been jailed for nearly five years after running a fraudulent scheme that saw non-halal chicken falsely sold as halal to restaurants and takeaways across South Wales.
Helim Miah, 46, who ran Universal Food Wholesale Limited from a Cardiff-based warehouse, was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison after being found guilty of fraudulent trading and trading while bankrupt. His associate, Noaf Rahman, also 46 and from Cardiff, pleaded guilty and received a 24-month suspended sentence.
The pair operated the illegal business over five years, misleading food establishments and deceiving thousands of consumers, many of whom eat halal meat for religious reasons.
The offences were exposed following a January 2019 investigation by Cardiff and the Vale Shared Regulatory Services. Officials discovered 2,840kg of frozen meat stored in unsanitary conditions, with sell-by dates tampered with and evidence that chicken was transported in dirty vans across South and West Wales.
Prosecutor Alex Greenwood told Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court:
“Over a five-year period, consumers of restaurants and takeaways were in fact consuming non-halal products as a result of the criminality of these two defendants.”
Investigators revealed that some of the chicken had originally been halal-certified. However, because hygiene protocols were flagrantly ignored during processing, and due to cross-contamination with non-halal meat in the warehouse’s "cutting room", none of the products could legally or religiously be considered halal.
Furthermore, there were periods when the business did not receive halal meat at all, yet still continued supplying it under the false label.
The court heard that Rahman and Miah deliberately created a "confusing trail" of businesses to avoid detection, making restaurants believe they were purchasing halal meat from different legitimate suppliers.
Judge Vanessa Francis said the duo had a “cavalier attitude” and were “equally culpable” for the scheme, adding:
“This was a disaster waiting to happen, and it is a matter of relief that it never did with the unsafe meat sent out of your premises.”
She continued:
“The harm in my view is extensive. There were flagrant breaches over a significant period of time… The societal impact is difficult to quantify.”
Due to the sensitivity of the case, the names of affected takeaways and restaurants were withheld from the court record.