From: Dover Express
DOCKS: A freight distribution manager arranged for 14 million cigarettes to be smuggled through Dover docks in refrigerated lorries carrying fruit and vegetables has been jailed.
Barry Wood, 45, from Maidstone received a sentence of six-and-a-half years for two counts of evading excise duty, estimated at £2.5 million, when he appeared at Maidstone court on November 1.
A second man, Romulus Boca, a Romanian national, received a three year prison sentence for driving a lorry loaded with the cigarettes.
A third man was found not guilty.
Customs investigators discovered the cigarettes in two separate lorry loads at the Eastern Dock in July and November 2010.
When the first vehicle was stopped documents with the load stated it contained fruit and vegetables, but officers found a large number of crudely concealed cardboard boxes containing more than six million illicit cigarettes.
A second smuggling attempt was foiled four months later when a lorry driven by Romulus Boca was searched and over eight million smuggled cigarettes were found.
Boca was arrested and charged with smuggling offences. Although he absconded abroad while on bail, he was found and extradited back to the UK.
Peter Hollier, HMRC assistant director of criminal investigation, said: “These men used their positions in a transport company, and their knowledge of the freight industry, to set up this smuggling operation.
“They are criminals out to make a profit without concern for the consequences for the livelihoods of honest shopkeepers.
“The sentences will send out a clear message to those attempting to avoid paying their dues that the penalties can be severe. If you know of any illegal smuggling activities, please call our 24-hour hotline on 0800 59 5000.”
Confiscation proceedings are now underway to recover the criminal profits of this crime.
