LONDON: A £40,000 bootleg booze haul linked to a popular Newcastle shop has been smashed by Customs officers.
Three men have been spared jail after admitting their involvement in an illegal alcohol ring which led officers to discover thousands of litres of spirits, beer, wine and cider.
Kudlip Singh, 34, Sukhwinder Singh, 43, and Abdul Havid, 49, all admitted fraudulent evasion of excise duty after they were arrested in connection to the discoveries.
HM Revenue and Customs Officers first raided an industrial unit on Nelson Way West, Cramlington, on July 10. 2010 where they found more than 15,000 litres of non-duty paid beer, wine, cider and spirits.
Newcastle Crown Court heard how officers extracted fingerprints belonging to Kuldip Singh from packaging and paperwork, believed to be order books.
Two months later, in September 2014, HMRC investigators seized vans driven by shopkeeper Sukhwinder Singh, 43, and associate Abdul Havid, 48, outside VG Stores in Kingston Park, also known as Kingston Park Post Office in Windsor Drive, Newcastle, after they were found to contain 709 litres of illicit vodka and whisky.
The court was told that further non-duty paid spirits were found on the shop’s shelves, behind the counter.
Prosecuting Craig Hassall said that further inquiries revealed the van driven by Havid belonged to Kuldip Singh, whose fingerprints were found at the Cramlington unit.
Mr Hassall said: “The 23, one litre vodka bottles seized had what appeared to be false labels and were stuck to the bottles with irregular glue.”
The court was told that when questioned by officers shopkeeper Sukhwinder Singh said an Asian man had asked him to store the alcohol and offered to pay him £500.
Kudlip Singh, 34, of South Road, Birmingham, was sentenced to a six month jail term suspended for two years and ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work. Sukhwinder Singh, 43, Edge Hill, Ponteland, was given a two year community order and Abdul Havid, 49, of Burdon Terrace, Bedlington, was given a 12 month community order and ordered to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work.
Judge Deborah Sherwin said she accepted that other people were involved in the offending and it was difficult to see the exact role the three men had played.
Speaking after the case Cheryl Burr, assistant director, fraud investigation service, HMRC, said: “Local shoppers were being duped into buying an illegal product from this gang, who peddled cheap booze purely so they could turn a criminal profit.
“Disrupting criminal trade is at the heart of our strategy to clamp down on the illicit alcohol market, which costs the UK around £1 billion per year. This is theft from the taxpayer and undermines legitimate traders.”
