The tobacco was detected within a shipping container which
had arrived at Belfast Docks from the Netherlands on
Wednesday 11 November. Border Force Officers searched the
shipment, which was labelled as air filters, and found the
tobacco on nine pallets which weighed a total of 2.34
tonnes.
The operation was conducted under the umbrella of the
Northern Ireland Organised Crime Task Force, which includes
Border Force, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), Police Service
of Northern Ireland and other partners.
, Minister
for Immigration Compliance and the Courts, said:
This was an outstanding seizure by Border Force, whose
efforts have prevented a significant amount of illegal
tobacco from reaching our streets and cheating the
taxpayer out of hundreds of thousands of pounds which can
fund our children’s schooling and the NHS.
This is not a victimless crime and is often linked with
other criminality. Children and young people are key
targets for those who peddle illegal tobacco, encouraging
them to take up smoking and exposing them to crime.
Steve Tracey, Assistant Director, Fraud Investigation
Service, HMRC, said:
The sale of illegal tobacco will not be tolerated by us
or our partner agencies. Disrupting criminal trade is at
the heart of our strategy to clampdown on the illicit
tobacco market, which costs the UK around £1.9 billion a
year. This is theft from the taxpayer and undermines
legitimate traders.
We encourage anyone with information about the illegal
sale of tobacco to report it online or call the Fraud
Hotline on 0800 788 887.
Had the smuggling attempt not been detected, it would have
cost the Treasury £700,000 in unpaid duty and VAT. No
arrests were made but HMRC is investigating further.
Last month, Border Force had further success in stopping
illicit cigarettes entering the UK when they seized around
10 million cigarettes at Harwich worth almost £3 million in
unpaid duty.
Border Force officers use hi-tech search equipment to
combat immigration crime and detect banned and restricted
goods that smugglers attempt to bring into the UK.
In 2019, Border Force protected the Treasury from losing
more than £210 million in unpaid duty from black market
cigarettes.
