A criminal gang from London who used their freight company to 'flood the UK with illicit cigarettes' have been jailed for a total of 15 years.
The trio, from west London, smuggled more than 14 million cigarettes into the UK inside boxes of fruit and vegetables, according to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
Reporting restrictions have just been lifted allowing the details of the crime to come to light after the trial and sentencing in January this year.
Two Indian nationals living in Southall, along with a man from Buckinghamshire, were arrested in May 2012 after HMRC discovered that they had been shipping illicit cigarettes from Dubai through East Africa into the UK to a warehouse in Uxbridge, evading over £3 million in duty.
Feroz Abubakar Batliwala, 29, of Ringway, Southall, and Dubai, pleaded guilty to conspiring to cheat HM The Queen and the public revenue, the HMRC said, and was sentenced to eight years and six months in prison, and banned from being a company director for 12 years.
Krishan Solanki, 49, also known as Krishan Kumar, of Raleigh Road, Southall, was found guilty of the same charge, and sentenced to seven years in prison and banned from being a company director for 10 years, HMRC added.
Ashiquir Rohman Ali, 52, of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, pleaded guilty to the same charge, and was sentenced to 20 months in prison, suspended for 24 months, and ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work.
HMRC assistant director of criminal investigation, John Cooper, 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.”
HMRC investigators uncovered the smuggling ring after working closely with UK Border Force and the Serious Organised Crime Agency (now the National Crime Agency).
The group was led by Batliwala, who orchestrated the purchase, shipping and delivery of the cigarettes from his home in Dubai to East Africa.
The cigarettes were then concealed inside boxes of fresh fruit and vegetables and flown into the UK.
Solanki accepted the goods into the UK and managed the warehouse operation. Deliveries were made to a warehouse in Uxbridge where the smuggled cigarettes were then removed. The fruit and vegetables were then cleared for onwards delivery.
Meanwhile, Ali repackaged the cigarettes into laundry bags which were collected by customers and delivered to addresses in the Midlands.
Confiscation proceedings to reclaim the criminal profits are under way.
