Gang sentenced for handling illegal cigarettes and tobacco

A UK man who used a baby monitor and chute to deliver illegal cigarettes to his customers has been jailed for three years.

38-year-old Tahar Mohammed and Feryad Mohammed Abdul- Kadir (33) admitted handling and selling more than £427,000 worth of smuggled and counterfeit tobacco from premises in Newport, Wales and Bristol in England. The estimated duty and tax evaded was £300,000.

Abdul-Kadir was sentenced to 20 months in prison while two other men who worked in the shop, Richard Jendrejcak (41) and Burham Karim (37), received suspended sentences for their part in the fraud.

All told, about 750,000 illegal cigarettes and 300kg of tobacco worth were seized after raids at a storage unit owned by Mohammed, a shop owned by Abdul-Kadir and Mohammed's home address in Bristol. More than £40,000 in cash, hidden under Mohammed's bed, and bags containing thousands of pounds in coins, were also seized.

All four defendants claimed little or no knowledge of each other; however through in-depth analysis of CCTV footage, phone and bank records, clear links were proven. Trading standards test purchasing operations and CCTV showed that all four men were involved in selling the tobacco in the shop.

"This prosecution is a real achievement for all those involved and sends out a very clear message to anyone who thinks they can profit from the sale of counterfeit goods," said Councillor Bob Poole, Newport City Council's Cabinet Member for Regulatory Functions.

"Counterfeit cigarettes and tobacco can be even more harmful than the genuine products – they are not monitored for safety and can contain all manner of ingredients," he added. "Those with foreign labelling do not comply with safety regulations and do not provide the consumer with the essential information to make an informed choice."

John Cooper, assistant director of the Fraud Investigation Service at HMRC, said: “This gang thought they had a foolproof way of hiding their activity and could profit from selling illegal tobacco, but they are now paying the price for their actions with criminal records and prison sentences.

"Tobacco smuggling robs communities of vital public funds and harms the livelihood of legitimate retailers. Disrupting this criminal trade is at the heart of our strategy to clampdown on the illicit tobacco market, which costs the UK around £2bn a year."