A lorry driver, Hans Verhoeven from Belgium has been jailed for almost seven years for evading excise duty. In July 2014 the driver was stopped and claimed to transporting fruit and bread. HMRC officers opened the container and found an astonishing 7.4 million non-UK duty paid cigarettes worth £1.58 million in evaded excise duty.
Verhoeven was arrested and later admitted making at least 18 smuggling runs in the past, each time carrying a similar load which was packed behind crates of pears. It is estimated that in total more than 147 million cigarettes, worth an estimated £32 million in lost duty had been brought into the UK.
Even after his arrest, Verhoeven was stopped again and although his lorry was holding legitimate merchandise, further investigation found paperwork linking him to a countryman’s lorry that was stopped at the same time. The lorry contained 8.1 million illicit cigarettes, hidden behind apples, evading £1.75 million in duty. The other driver was cleared of any involvement.
Stuart Taylor, Assistant Director, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said:
‘Verhoeven smuggled huge quantities of cigarettes into the UK, costing the taxpayer tens of millions of pounds in lost duty, money that should have been providing vital public services. These offences have a devastating impact on honest retailers who struggle to compete with the black market in illicit cigarettes and tobacco, costing the country £2.1 billion in lost revenue each year.’
Source: HM Revenue & Customs
