LONDON: Two men have been jailed for their part in an alcohol smuggling plot after an investigation by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
HGV drivers Mervyn Osgood, 61, and Darren Brooker, 46, both from Kent, were found guilty of evading tax and importing duty free alcohol into the UK on several occasions.
Osgood was sentenced to four years and six months imprisonment, whilst Brooker faces two years and six months of jail time.
The alcohol was bought from a bonded warehouse in France and then delivered to locations across the UK and sold at ‘duty free’ prices.
Osgood and Brooker evaded up to half a million pounds in duty by smuggling alcohol into the UK at the expense of legitimate traders and taxpayers.
Border Force officers at Dover docks stopped a lorry in October 2012 that had arrived from Calais filled with beer.
Officers realised that the paperwork had already been used the day before by Osgood who had arrived at Dover with an identical load.
The lorry driver was arrested and questioned. Osgood was arrested in February 2013 and, after being linked to the fraud by analysis of Osgood’s telephone records. Brooker was arrested in July 2013.
Both men were found guilty of alcohol smuggling offences and sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court on 29 September 2015. A third man was found not guilty.
