A SCOTS pilot who used his job to smuggle cigarettes and alcohol into the UK has been fined.
Non-smoker Andrew Creelman, 54, of Bishopton, Renfrewshire brought more than 16,000 cigarettes and 20 litres of spirits into the UK illegally.
The airline captain, who was working for British Airways, was caught after being stopped by UK Border Agency (UKBA) staff at Edinburgh Airport.
Creelman pled guilty to the fraudulent evasion of tax, and was fined £1320 and ordered to pay costs of £85.
Lisa Rose, specialist prosecutor for the CPS Central Fraud Division, said: "Captain Creelman, who did not smoke, knew smuggling was a serious offence and failed to declare the tobacco he brought into the country at airports. During a period of just over a year, Creelman escaped duty due on 16,400 cigarettes and 20 litres of rum.
"Despite knowing the rules, Creelman exceeded his duty limits on 19 occasions with cigarettes and 10 occasions with spirits.
"Captain Creelman continued to think he could rise above the law and evaded more than £5600 in taxes.
"Paying tax matters – it's what keeps our schools and hospitals running. Those who use their positions to evade paying it should know they risk prosecution."
Creelman pled guilty to two counts contrary to Section 170 (2) (a) of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979.
Martin Brown, assistant director of the HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) criminal investigation department, told the City of London Magistrates' Court: "Andrew Creelman blatantly abused his position of trust as an airline captain to evade UK duty.
"His actions cost the UK taxpayer money needed to fund vital public services. HMRC works closely with UK Border Agency officers to detect and disrupt this kind of criminal activity."
A British Airways spokesman said: "We take such matters extremely seriously and will always assist the authorities with their investigations."
Figures published in April this year indicated some £12.2 billion was lost to illegal trade in cigarettes, with around one in every five cigarettes on sale in Britain believed to have been illegally imported, while as much as 50% of hand-rolled tobacco is believed to be illicit. One in every 10 bottles of spirit is also believed to have been illegally imported.
Trade in counterfeit tobacco products has cost the UK economy an estimated £50bn since 2000, with around £12.2bn believed to have been lost to the illicit trade in the last financial year alone – more than the amount lost to illegal beer, spirits and diesel combined.
Mr Brown urged those with information about smuggling or illegal sales to contact the HMRC hotline on 0800 59 5000.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article