LONDON: Almost a tonne of raw leaf tobacco and 10,000 suspected illicit cigarettes have been seized by HM Revenue and Customs.
HMRC officers, accompanied by the PSNI, searched a vehicle at a farm in south Armagh on Tuesday where the raw leaf tobacco, worth an estimated £236,000 in lost duty and taxes, was seized.
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In unrelated activity, HMRC visited a number of private and business addresses in Co Down also on Tuesday where they seized a vehicle and the cigarettes worth an estimated £2,800 in lost duty and taxes.
Mike Parkinson, Assistant Director, Criminal Investigation, HMRC, said: “Tobacco fraud is a highly organised global crime which costs the United Kingdom £2bn a year in lost taxes.
The trade in illicit tobacco is unregulated and makes cheaper tobacco more readily available to the young and vulnerable.
Anyone with information on tobacco fraud can contact the Customs Hotline on 0800 59 5000.”Investigations into both seizures are continuing. They follow a major illegal tobacco haul in Armagh earlier in the month. In the unconnected operation, unprocessed tobacco worth an estimated £2m in lost revenue was recovered.
