LONDON: A Wynyard man was one of four caught smuggling a haul of illicit tobacco worth almost £50,000 from the back of a Mercedes van.
Following an investigation by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the gang were observed transferring 276kg of hand-rolling tobacco – worth £47,676 in unpaid duty – from a Mercedes Sprinter into two vehicles and a residential address in Newcastle on March 5, 2014.
Peter White, 40, of Tempest Court, Wynyard , was one of four men arrested at the scene by HMRC officers.
HMRC officers seized the three vehicles and more than £18,000 in cash which was found in White’s Mercedes estate.
White – along with Raymond Curry, 65, of Tirril Place, Newcastle, Keith Nielsen, 46, of Britannia Place, Newcastle and Andrius Macknickas, 30, of Grosvenor Road, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire – all four pleaded guilty to the fraudulent evasion of excise duty.
They were sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court on Tuesday to ten weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months.
