UK-Scotland: Cigarette Smuggler Douglas Allison Ordered to Pay £30000

Source from:  BBC Online  04/09/2013

A Stranraer man who led a gang which tried to smuggle more than 13 million counterfeit cigarettes into the UK has received a confiscation order.

Douglas Allison, 47, has been ordered to pay £30,000 within six months or face a further 14 months in prison.

Last year, he was jailed for six-and-a-half years at Maidstone Crown Court for trying to smuggle the cigarettes into Dover and Newhaven.

The gang used HGVs disguised to look as though they were carrying frozen food.

An estimated £2.7m of excise duty and VAT had not been paid on the cigarettes.

John Cooper, of HM Revenue and Customs, said: "Allison was a criminal who was motivated purely by greed to make a huge profit at the expense of honest taxpayers, pocketing money that could have been spent on public services for the benefit of the whole community.

"The sale of smuggled cigarettes is unregulated and these products are often sold to children and young people.

"Local shopkeepers also suffer when sales are lost to the criminals that trade in illicit goods."

He urged anyone with information on the illegal sale of cigarettes or tobacco to contact the 24-hour customs hotline. Enditem