Cigarette smuggling arrests

THREE men have been arrested following investigations by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) into a multi-million cigarette smuggling scam in the Ballymena area.

The Tuesday morning raids are part of an investigation into the suspected evasion of around 345,000 revenue. The fraud involved the importation of small amounts of cigarettes over a number of months from China, declaring the contents of the packages as something else, such as toys.

The cigarettes were sent through the postal system to addresses in the Ballymena area.

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Mike Connolly, Assistant Director, Specialist Investigations, HMRC said: “This form of criminality is motivated solely by greed and personal gain, costing us all, as taxpayers, around 2 billion per year in unpaid duty.

“The unregulated sale of illegal cigarettes is not a victimless or harmless crime, and encourages otherwise honest people to trade with criminals.

“We are also keen to work closely with and support local businesses that have to compete against these illegal sales. We would encourage anyone who knows of someone selling cheap or duty free cigarettes and tobacco to contact our hotline on 0800 59 5000.”

The arrests were made following planned searches of two private premises near Ballymena.

All three have been released pending further investigations. Computers and other records were seized.

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