Illegal tobacco smugglers jailed for 26 years
AN eight-strong tobacco smuggling gang, which brought more than two million illegal cigarettes into the North East hidden among fridge freezers, have been jailed for more than 26 years.
And the cost of the duty they evaded in their crime would have been enough to pay for 31 extra Cleveland Police officers on the streets of Teesside, Government chiefs have said.
Ringleader Mohammad Zada, of Applecross Grove, Wynyard, presided over the smuggling gang, which was caught with illegal tobacco products worth £713,037 in unpaid duty, an investigation by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) revealed.
The largest haul was discovered on the back of a lorry in Middlesbrough where officers found 2,204,620 nonUK duty paid cigarettes hidden among a shipment of fridge freezers.
Investigators also seized large amounts of illegal tobacco products from a rented storage unit and one of the gang members’ homes, both in Stockton.
On Friday, 37-year-old Mohammad Zada was jailed for five-and-ahalf years for conspiracy to evade excise duty. Zada’s fellow gang members, including his two brothers Mustafa Zada and Mahdee Zada, were also sentenced for conspiracy to evade excise duty. Mahdee Zada, 23, of South Road, in Stockton, was sentenced to four years in prison. Mustafa Zada, 31, of South Road, Stockton, was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison.
Ahmed Al-Shateri, 37, of Warwick Street, Middlesbrough, was sentenced to two years and eight months.
Anna Kabata, 35, of Grace Road, Tipton, was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years.
Three others, Slawomir Paprocki, 39, of Poland, was sentenced to four years in prison, while Dariusz Lodygovsky, 44, of Poland, was sentenced to four years and three months in prison. Lukasz Maziarka, 29, also of Poland, was sentenced to three years in prison.
Denis Kerr, assistant director of the Fraud Investigation Service at HMRC, said: “This was a shocking attempt to flood the North East with millions of illegal cigarettes. Zada and his gang thought their crimes would go unde- tected, but they got caught and now they are paying the price. HMRC will not tolerate the trade in illegal tobacco, which starves the UK of money which should be used to fund our vital public services.
“The gang evaded enough duty to pay the salaries of 31 new Cleveland Police officers for a year.
“I encourage anyone with information on this type of fraud to report it to HMRC online, or contact our Fraud Hotline on 0800 788 887.”
Taking delivery of haul at discount storeMohammad Zada was caught taking delivery of 2,204,620 cigarettes at his discount furniture and electrical goods store called Bargain Planet on Parliament Road in Middlesbrough. HMRC officers, with support from the National Crime Agency, found the cigarettes in a lorry parked outside his shop in August 2017 packed in cardboard boxes and hidden between 54 fridge freezers.
Mohammad Zada’s brothers Mustafa and Mahdee were at the shop to unload the goods along with Lodygovsky. Lorry driver Paprocki entered the UK through the Harwich International Port from Holland earlier that day along with Maziarka.
Paprocki held legitimate paperwork for a delivery of white goods to a store in Bristol; however, he also had a fake document for an address in Sunderland to cover up why they were in the North East.
HMRC officers subsequently seized a further 213,940 mixed brand cigarettes and 18 kilos of hand-rolling tobacco from a self-storage unit on Malleable Way in Stockton, in September 2017. The storage unit was rented by Al-Shateri. Al-Shateri and Mustafa Zada arrived in a van whilst HMRC officers were at the unit.
The Zada brothers, Paprocki and Kabata were convicted of conspiracy to evade excise duty at Teesside Crown Court, on October 22, following a three-week-long trial.
Al-Shateri, Maziarka and Lodygovsky admitted conspiracy to evade excise duty. They were sentenced at Teesside Crown Court on Friday.
Proceedings are under way recover the unpaid duty.
Karzan Hasan, 23, from Sunderland, denied the conspiracy and was cleared by a jury after a trial. He said he was in Stockton on the day of the search, visited a friend at a car wash and met a Kurdish man who needed help moving goods. He said he agreed to help in exchange for a meal. to