Two South Shields men who tried to smuggle 915 pouches of hand-rolling tobacco into the UK have been sentenced.
Daniel Webster, 29, of Stanhope Road, and Dean Lackland, 25, of Landseer Gardens, were caught with illegal tobacco goods worth £11,145 in unpaid duty at Newcastle International Airport , an investigation by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) revealed.
The illegal goods were discovered when Border Force officers searched their bags on arrival into the airport from Dubai on November 22 last year.
Officers seized 45.75kg of Amber Leaf hand-rolling tobacco and the case was passed to HMRC for investigation.
Webster and Lackland admitted excise fraud at South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court on April 16.
They were each sentenced to 20 weeks in prison, suspended for 20 months, and ordered to do 300 hours of unpaid work, at South Shields Magistrates’ Court.
Information about how tax fraud can be reported to HMRC can be found online at https://www.gov.uk/report-an-unregistered-trader-or-business
