Bishopsgate: Police and paramedics attend scene of incident
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A sniffer dog helped uncover 99 million illegal cigarettes worth about £44million in unpaid taxes at the Port of Hull, Yorkshire. The tobacco detection dog sniffed out the cigarettes which were packed inside eight shipping containers.
They had been labelled birchwood logs with import documents showing they were shipped through the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
HMRC launched an investigation into the case and a 57-year-old man from south Wales was arrested in connection with the seizure. He was later released on bail.
Another man, from the Birmingham area, was interviewed under caution. The investigation remains ongoing.
Anthony Usher, Deputy Director at HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service, said: “This is the single largest seizure of cigarettes ever made at a UK port – and our streets would have been flooded with them had they not been discovered.
“We are determined to stamp out tobacco fraud by working closely with partners in the UK and internationally to bring those responsible to justice.”
He added cheap cigarettes come at a cost because they often fund organised crime and other illegal activity which causes harm to communities, including drugs, guns and human trafficking.
Mr Usher said: “We urge anyone with information about cigarette fraud to contact HMRC online. Search ‘Report Fraud HMRC’ on GOV.UK and complete our online form.”
Irene Hall, Deputy Director at Border Force North Region, said: “Illicit cigarettes are dangerous, harmful and fund organised criminal gangs.
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“The officers involved can be proud this huge interception has stopped illicit cigarettes from entering our communities.”
The illicit tobacco market costs Britain about £2.5billion a year. according to HMRC.
Earlier this year, HMRC and the UAE Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security pledged to work closer together to tackle the large scale tobacco fraud which affects both countries.
Meanwhile in a separate case, an Albanian people-smuggling gang which transported migrants to the UK via Spain has been dismantled after a series of arrests, according to the National Crime Agency (NCA).
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The NCA said the organised crime network smuggled mainly Albanian migrants through the northern Spanish cities of Bilbao and Santander into the UK using ferries and freight shipping routes to Portsmouth, Southampton and Liverpool.
It said each migrant is believed to have paid between between £2,600 to £13,000 to be smuggled.
The migrants were believed to have come directly from Albania to Spain for onward travel, but were also recruited from camps around Spanish ports.
The smuggling network provided migrants with accommodation and food until they stowed away for their journey to the UK.
About 50 people who made the crossing have been identified by the UK and Spanish authorities and linked to the network, but the NCA said the true number who used the route is unknown.
NCA officers based in Spain and the UK worked with Spain’s Guardia Civil for over a year to identify the ringleaders of the organisation.
Between Monday and Wednesday, seven arrests were made – two in Madrid and five in the Basque region.
The NCA said two men believed to have been leaders of the gang were among those detained. They predominantly lived in Albania but were arrested in Spain.
All seven will face prosecution in Spanish courts.
During the raids, investigators seized items including telephones, computers, bank cards and cash receipts as well as identity documents and passports of various nationalities.
NCA international regional manager Steve Reynolds said: “People smugglers put lives at risk, which is why disrupting and dismantling criminal networks like this is a priority for the NCA and our partners.
“In this case we were faced with a crime group who were prepared to smuggle migrants in lorries over one of the longer ferry and freight crossings into the UK. The dangers of that are self-evident.
“Working closely with our Spanish counterparts we have been able to dismantle their operation and prevent further lives being put at risk.
“This operation demonstrates how the NCA is determined to take action against people smugglers at every step of the route towards the UK, including upstream in transit countries like Spain.”
At the Conservative Party conference last week, Home Secretary Suella Braverman told delegates: “The hard truth is that our modern slavery laws are being abused by people gaming the system. We’ve seen a 450 percent increase in modern slavery claims since 2014.
“Today, the largest group of small boats migrants are from Albania – a safe country. Many of them claim to be trafficked as modern slaves. That’s despite them having paid thousands of pounds to come here, or having willingly taken a dangerous journey across the Channel. The truth is that many of them are not modern slaves and their claims of being trafficked are lies.”
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