Tobacco smuggling gang jailed
A five-strong tobacco smuggling gang, which brought more than 12 million illicit cigarettes into the North East hidden inside wooden cable drum discs, has been jailed.
The gang was caught by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) officers unloading cigarettes at an industrial unit in Stanley, County Durham.
Officers seized 1.2 million cigarettes, which had been smuggled into the UK from Ukraine by lorry in April 2015. Individual packets of the Winston Blue branded products had been packed in long plastic strips to fit inside the 171 modified cable drum discs.
An HMRC investigation found the five men smuggled more than 12 million non-UK duty paid cigarettes, worth £3.6m in duty and VAT, into the UK between 2013 and 2015.
https://www.talkingretail.com/news/industry-news/tobacco-smuggling-gang-jailed-04-05-2018/
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Woman jailed for smuggling 3m illicit cigarettes into UK
A London woman who smuggled three million illicit cigarettes into the UK using false identities has been jailed after an investigation by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
Xiou Yu Lin, 50, set up mailbox accounts in false names to receive packages, mainly from the Far East.
The parcels – from China, Hong Kong, Japan, India and the US – were wrongly declared as containing items such as ‘kids toys’ and ‘machinery parts’ to get through Customs and evade £904,865.73 in duty.
Southwark Crown Court heard Lin was involved in the scam between July 2011 and November 2016, illegally importing 3.2m cigarettes and 662.7kg of tobacco.
HMRC investigators caught Lin in Camden Town in November 2016 after she had picked up 6,000 Marlboro Gold cigarettes.
Lin, who admitted smuggling cigarettes and tobacco and several counts of using false documents, was sentenced to three years and four months in jail.
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