Scots pair jailed for £2.7m cigarette smuggling scam

Reporter

Friday 21 September 2012

TWO Scots have been jailed for their part in a plot to smuggle more than 13 million counterfeit cigarettes into the UK by disguising them as ice cream, yoghurt and frozen pizza.

racket: Timothy Shaw, right, and Douglas Allison, far right, were part of a four-man duty evasion scheme operated with Terence Crowhurst, top, and Russell Baker.

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VICTORIA WELDON

Douglas Allison, from Stranraer, and Timothy Shaw, from Motherwell, were part of a four- man racket involved in the £2.7 million duty evasion scheme.

The pair used their illegal earnings to fund lavish lifestyles, including expensive holidays, at a massive cost to the taxpayer.

Allison, 46, organised the smuggling ring and acted as the link between the men. He was jailed for six years and six months but failed to appear in court and a warrant has now been issued for his arrest.Shaw, 50, who used his knowledge of the haulage industry to help organise the illegal shipments, was jailed for 21 months.He was caught driving an HGV lorry with 7.5 million cigarettes at the port of Newhaven in East Sussex in March 2010. Documents described the shipment as yoghurt, but HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) officers found a number of boxes, some marked as frozen pizza, containing cartons of smuggled cigarettes.John Cooper, HMRC assistant director of criminal investigation, said: "These four men are criminals who were motivated purely by greed, not caring who they harmed. They were just out to make a huge profit at the expense of honest taxpayers. The revenue evaded could have been spent on public services like schools and hospitals for the benefit of the whole community. "These products are often sold to children and young people. Local shopkeepers also suffer when sales are lost to the criminals who peddle these harmful, and often counterfeit, illegal goods."Allison and Shaw had appeared yesterday alongside Terence Crowhurst, 46, of East Sussex, and Russell Baker, 49, of Rugby, at Maidstone Crown Court. They were all convicted of the fraudulent evasion of duty. Allison was also found guilty of money laundering.Crowhurst, the owner of one of the HGVs, was sentenced to 33 months imprisonment and had to forfeit his vehicle.Baker, the driver of a second lorry stopped the day after Shaw at Dover Eastern Docks, was jailed for 36 months.The court heard Allison had been dealing in illicit cigarettes for a number of years and lied to investigators to hide his criminal income. HMRC claimed he played a pivotal role in the smuggling racket. The car dealer and lorry driver was arrested at Manchester Airport on April 9, 2011, after arriving back in the UK from a holiday in Goa.Allison used his illegal earnings to fund an extravagant lifestyle, spending his money on holidays, shares and property in Glasgow. Shaw's arrest came after he used his experience in haulage to create what he thought was a legitimate cover story. The revenue from his load alone was estimated at £1.7m. Investigators later found the lorry driver used his criminal earnings to take holidays in Florida and New York.The second lot of counterfeit cigarettes, driven by Baker, was intercepted 18 hours after Shaw's arrest. Documents described the cargo as ice-cream, but the unit was full of black shrink-wrapped pallets containing 6.1 million cigarettes. The estimated duty evasion for the load on the HGV, owned by Crowhurst, was £1.1m.Sentencing Allison, Judge Michael Carroll said: "You were found guilty by the jury on what I believe was overwhelming evidence. You were heavily involved in ensuring a successful organisation making high profits at the expense of the public."

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Scots pair jailed for £2.7m cigarette smuggling scam

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