Six members of a gang who used high-tech equipment to turn out 24 fake bottles of vodka a minute, plus large quantities of hand rolling tobacco, were jailed at Southwark Crown Court today for more than 56 years.
A former football club chief executive has been jailed for five-and-a-half years after admitting to not paying duty on £4.5m-worth of cigarettes.
A Lancashire gang who imported over two million contraband cigarettes into the country packed inside wheelie bins has been jailed for a total of almost nine-years.
A gang of cigarette smugglers have been jailed after bringing almost 200,000 illegal cigarettes through Newcastle Airport.
Police in Kent have seized an ice-cream van packed with cigarettes and tobacco, after being tipped off by local residents.
An illegal tobacco smuggler has been forced to pay back £185,000 of his ill-gotten gains to avoid facing a prison sentence.
Proceeds gained from illegal tobacco smuggling were used by the Provisional IRA to help fund terrorism, according to an article in The Irish Times.
Four women from Sunderland have been caught trying to smuggle 64,000 cigarettes into the UK after a trip to Tenerife.
Thousands of pounds-worth of illegal cigarettes and alcohol were confiscated during a raid in New Herrington.
Trading standards officers have launched a series of raids on houses in Gateshead suspected of selling illegal tobacco.
