Three men have been jailed for a total of 15 years for using their freight company to smuggle more than 14 million cigarettes in fruits and vegetable boxes.
The trio were arrested in May 2012 after HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) had discovered that they were illegally shipping illicit cigarettes from Dubai, via East Africa into the UK, which evaded £3 million in duty.
The investigators of HMRC had uncovered the smuggling ring after working closely with the UK Border Force and the Serious Organised Crime Agency, which is now known as the National Crime Agency.
The group was led by Feroz Batliwala, in Dubai. It is alleged that he orchestrated the purchase, shipping and delivery of the cigarettes from his home to East Africa, which were then concealed inside fresh fruits and vegetable boxes and then flown into the UK.
The second accused, Krishan Solanki is said to have accepted the goods into the UK and managed the operation of the warehouse. It is said that the deliveries were made to a warehouse in Uxbridge. The smuggled goods were removed and the fruits and vegetables were sent off for onward delivery.
Meanwhile, the third accused, Ashiquir Ali had supposedly repackaged the cigarettes into laundry bags, which were consequently collected by “customers” and also delivered to addresses in the Midlands.
John Cooper, Assistant Director, Criminal Investigation, HMRC said, “This was a major investigation into the exploits of three criminals attempting to flood the UK with illicit cigarettes. These men abused their position of trust as approved importers to steal millions of pounds from law-abiding taxpayers – money which should have gone into funding the UK’s vital public services. They thought their set-up was undetectable, but they were wrong and our investigation has led to them being brought to account.”
