Selling cigarettes to a young teenager has landed a Whangarei shop keeper with a fine and legal bills.
Vinayagan Kondaiya was convicted of selling tobacco products to a minor by the Whangarei District Court last week. He was fined $500 and ordered to pay court costs.
The prosecution followed a tip-off from a Whangarei parent who complained her son had been able to buy cigarettes at Mr Kondaiya's Rainbow Dairy.
Health officers set up a sting-type operation, in which an underage person was sent into a shop under supervision to buy tobacco or liquor.
Seven other Northland shopkeepers are facing similar prosecutions.
