23.08.10
The UK Border Agency seized a total of 870 kg of chewing tobacco at Stansted Airport split over 3 freight consignments earlier this month. They came from Belgium and had been listed not as chewing tobacco but as ‘chewing products’ in a bid to evade duty of over £66,000. Instead they were confiscated and will be destroyed. One container, weighing 300 kg, was destined for an address in Hook, and the other two were due to go to addresses in London.
Officers spotted a mistake in the paperwork and authorised a search of the containers. A spokesman from the UK Border Agency at Stansted Airport said: ‘From that point on the detection was straightforward; the smugglers made no attempt at concealment. They clearly thought the consignments would go unchecked. The tobacco was heading for the black market, cheating the British taxpayer and undermining honest traders.’
The tobacco was taken to an incinerator plant, where it was burned to produce energy for the London electricity supply.
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