MADRID: Three men who were caught supplying or receiving nearly half a million smuggled cigarettes in a Dorking car park have been jailed for evading more than £115,000 in excise duty.
In December 2015 Dominik Mrzyglod, 38, and Sebastian Swiezy, 36, were seen by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) investigators supplying non-UK duty paid cigarettes to Abdul Faki, 52,
Officers arrested Faki at the scene and found 486,700 B&B cigarettes in the white van he was helping to load.
The two other men fled before officers could apprehend them. Mrzyglod was arrested at his home in Walton-on-Thames the following day while Swiezy fled the UK for Alicante, Spain, but was arrested at Gatwick Airport in April 2016 as he arrived on a flight from Poland.
David Margree, Assistant Director, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said: “These criminals were aiming to undercut legitimate retailers in London and the Home Counties with this large quantity of smuggled cigarettes. HMRC continues to target the supply of illicit tobacco, which costs the UK around £2.4 billion a year.
“We encourage anyone with information regarding the smuggling, storage or sale of illegal tobacco to contact our fraud hotline on 0800 788 887. The three men pleaded guilty to the fradulent evasion of excise duty. Mrzyglod, of Sunset Place, Walton-on-Thames, was jailed for four years earlier this year for his role in this crime, and for a separate offence of smuggling 1.2 million cigarettes inside table tops. Faki and Swiezy pleaded guilty on June 9 this year.
