Eight Million Illicit Cigarettes Seized

Two Armagh men have been arrested this week and customs' officials have seized around eight million cigarettes - worth an estimated £1.7m in lost duty.

With about £2bn of UK taxpayers' money for public services ending up in the pockets of tobacco fraudsters every year, the news was welcomed by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) who said that it followed a multi-agency cross border operation targeting the illicit tobacco trade.

Officers from the Revenue's Customs Service working with the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and the UK Border Agency (UKBA) raided commercial premises in Co Armagh on Tuesday evening.

The cigarettes, thought to have originated in Dubai, were being off-loaded from a 40' trailer into a warehouse when officers swooped.

John Whiting, Assistant Director Criminal Investigation, HMRC said: "Tobacco smuggling is organised crime on a global scale with huge profits ploughed straight back into the criminal underworld, feeding activities like drug dealing, people smuggling and fraud.

"Purchasing cheap cigarettes without the duty paid on them means trading with criminals, and undermining honest businesses," he said.

"This criminal activity undermines public health by creating a cheap and unregulated supply and we would encourage anyone aware of this suspicious activity to contact them on the 'hotline' on 0800 59 5000."

The two men have been released on bail and HMRC investigations are continuing.

Last month, two men from Armagh were arrested, and thousands of pounds in cash seized by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) into a suspected multi-million pound fuel fraud.

The men were arrested following raids by HMRC on private addresses and filling stations in Co Armagh and Belfast using cash detection dogs, uncovered over £40,000 in cash in a kitchen cupboard at one of the private addresses, with further cash seizures at the commercial premises. Fuel, business records and computers were also seized.

In March, the UK's largest ever fuel laundering operation - capable of producing over 30 million litres of illicit fuel a year and costing the taxpayer an estimated £20m in lost revenue - was dismantled by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in Northern Ireland.

The diesel laundering plant was uncovered in Co Armagh yesterday morning when HMRC officers, accompanied by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), searched agricultural buildings near Crossmaglen.

They seized six large fuel storage tanks, 37,000 litres of illicit fuel, 1,000 litres of acid, pumps and associated equipment. Almost 21,000 litres of toxic waste, stored in barrels and in an underground slurry pit, were also removed from the site.

See: Fraudulent Fuel Plant Shut Down

(BMcC/GK)