From: The Olive Press
BRITISH expats are being offered cash rewards for information about suspected tobacco smugglers.
The HM Revenue & Customs campaign aims to clamp down on illegal imports of cigarettes to Spain – many of which come via the Gibraltar border.
Around 225 million cigarettes and several tonnes of tobacco destined for the UK have been seized in Spain over the last year.
“We hope the public will help us come down hard on the smugglers and fraudsters who cheat the rest of us by not making their full contribution to the cost of public services,” said an HMRC spokesman.
“These people are criminals who we want to catch.”
Email: customs.hotline@hmrc.gov.uk.
Im very surprised people even try and smuggle cigarettes from Gibraltar as 40% supplied by the licensed brewery supplier such as Stagnettos are fake. An insider from the company claimed he ordered them from China. To stop smuggling you really need UK customs and excise to man the Spanish side of the border as the customs on the Gibraltar side are all paid off.