A gang is jailed for 16 years after smuggling £1.5 million of illicit tobacco into the UK, defrauding public revenue.
Zhou worked with Bryan Kim, 42, and Faruque Hussein, 54. They smuggled tobacco into the United Kingdom. Then, they made it into hand-rolling tobacco. Finally, they sold it in fake packages.
Ruifang Zhang, 45, is Zhou’s wife. She laundered the illegal money. She used it for a house deposit and payments. Zhang used fake details for the mortgage too.
HMRC officers stopped their operation. They searched places in Luton, Leicester and Nottingham. They found tobacco worth almost £1.5 million. Zhou, Kim, and Hussein got charged. They cheated the public revenue.
Zhang faced charges for money laundering. The mortgage fraud totaled £270,000. All of them denied any involvement. A trial lasted four weeks. They were found guilty last December in court. The HMRC found bags of raw tobacco. These bags were stacked up outside a building.
Peter Vivian works for HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service. He said illegal tobacco hurts public services. It also harms honest businesses in local areas. He urges people to report illegal tobacco activity. HMRC will keep working with partners. They want to catch those breaking rules.