Four face sentence after smuggling ring evaded £800k in duty
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by Keith
Hunt
Four men are facing
sentence after being convicted of involvement in smuggling almost
five million cigarettes into the country and evading £800,000 in
duty.
Steven Clarke, 35, of Newtown,
Birmingham, Gavin Turner, 43, of Fontwell, Arundel, West Sussex,
and John Lester, 52, of Handsworth, Birmingham, denied being
concerned in the evasion of duty, but were convicted.
Martin O’Brien, of Harborne,
Birmingham, admitted the charge on the first day of the trial. Sean
Mullins, 49, of Birmingham, was acquitted by direction of the
judge.
Maidstone Crown Court heard
O’Brien, 47, was driving a lorry found to have the huge illicit
cargo hidden in the back.
Anthony Abell, prosecuting, said
although O’Brien was the sole occupant of the truck, he was not
acting alone.
"If you like, he was at the
sharp end, sticking his head through the parapet," he told the
jury.
The Tony Lester International
Transport lorry arrived at Dover Docks in January 2010 by ferry
from Dunkirk.
Customs officers found 104 empty
meat crates in the lorry. Thirty-two other palettes contained
4,928,240 Gold Classic cigarettes.
"They would have been sold on
the black market, had this succeeded," Mr Abell told the court.
"The duty evaded is just over £800,000."
The evidence, he said, pointed
to a distribution centre near Bruges, Belgium.
Judge Michael Carroll granted
bail until sentence on February 7, but warned that prison sentences
would be imposed.
Friday, January 20 2012
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