THREE JAILED FOR CIGARETTE SMUGGLING SCAM AT LUTON AIRPORT

20 Jun 2003 06:45 PM

Three men were jailed today at the Inner London Crown Court for their part in a cigarette smuggling scam involving the re-use of flight boarding cards at Luton airport. During the period 1 March 2000 and 21 August 2001, the men made 117 smuggling trips, bringing in almost 1.5m illicit cigarettes.

Customs spokesperson for Luton, John Barber said:

"This is blatant abuse of the duty free system and an example of how smugglers try and disguise themselves as honest passengers. These custodial sentences today demonstrate the seriousness and sophistication of tobacco smuggling and shows that they can't get away with it."

In the early stages of the fraud the men traveled to Zurich and Geneva buying large quantities of cigarettes at the duty free shop at Luton airport and sometimes buying more cigarettes in Switzerland, before smuggling them back to the UK.

Their smuggling methods later became more sophisticated. Instead of flying to Switzerland to buy their duty free, they instead re-used old boarding cards to buy their cigarettes from Luton airport's duty free shop. They then took domestic flights to Glasgow, Edinburgh and Liverpool before returning to Luton.

Michael Brown, 44, of Shelley Road, Wellingborough was jailed for two years. In addition the court issued a Confiscation Order for £56,000 on Brown, or he faces an additional nine months imprisonment if it is not paid.

Stephen Wright, 43, of Malham Court, Wellingborough was also jailed for two years; Reginald James Brown, 50, and also of Shelley Road, Wellingborough was jailed for eight months. He is the elder brother of Michael Brown.

Notes for editors

1. The revenue being evaded in this case is £240,000.

2. Switzerland is not a member of the EU, therefore cigarettes and alcohol are bought duty free, not duty paid.

3. The legal limit for the purchase of cigarettes bought in countries outside the EU for consumption in UK is 200.

Issued by HM Customs and Excise Communications Division

Anyone with information about illegally imported drugs, tobacco or alcohol or about VAT fraud can speak to a Customs officer in complete confidence. Call Customs Confidential 24 hours a day on 0800 59 5000 www.hmce.gov.uk