A new report published today shows HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has slashed the tax gap on illicit cigarettes and tobacco by more than half since 2005. Between April 2023 and March 2024 HMRC also secured prison sentences totalling 148 years against 107 cigarette and tobacco fraudsters.
The head of an international tobacco smuggling operation has been jailed for six years.
More than 27 million illicit cigarettes and 7,500kg of hand-rolling tobacco were seized under Operation CeCe in its first two years, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and National Trading Standards have revealed.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is investigating after 10.8 million illegal cigarettes were seized at Belfast Port. The cigarettes, worth around £5.3million in unpaid taxes, were seized by HMRC working alongside Border Force, on 20 June, 2023. The cigarettes were found packed in cardboard boxes inside a container that had been scanned by Border Force. No arrests have been made.
A gang caught red-handed with millions of counterfeit cigarettes at a Lincolnshire farm has been handed prison sentences totalling 26 years.
The small village of Midville, in East Lindsey, was the unlikely base for the gang who were caught with more than 6.5millon cigarettes, worth more than £1.8m in evaded duty.
Officers from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) arrested Marcin Kopec, 44, and Woj
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is investigating the single largest seizure of illegal cigarettes ever made at a UK port.
More than 99 million cigarettes, worth around £44 million in unpaid taxes, were seized by Border Force (BF) at the Port of Hull on 1 June 2022.
A BF tobacco detection dog helped uncover the illegal cigarettes which were packed inside eight shipping containers and described
Hard-core tobacco smugglers and people who repeatedly smuggle, distribute and sell illicit tobacco could be hit by a fourfold increase in fines together with tough new civil penalties, as part of plans to crackdown on the smuggling of illicit tobacco.
HMRC is responsible for making sure that the money is available to fund the UK’s public services and for helping families and individuals with targeted financial support.
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