Persistent cigarette smuggler gets big fine
26.01.07
A man who tried to smuggle nearly 25,000 cigarettes through Coventry Airport - and had been caught at two other regional airports in the last year - was ordered to pay £3,700 to HM Revenue & Customs.
Customs officers arrested Nigel Thomas Gough when he arrived at Coventry Airport on a flight from Malaga in Spain on January 9. He was trying to smuggle 24,500 cigarettes into the country.
Gough, originally from Chorley, Lancashire, but now living in El Grande, Malaga, pleaded guilty to the fraudulent evasion of excise duty and at Solihull Magistrates Court he was sentenced to carry out 100 hours unpaid work. He was also ordered to to pay £3,787 to the inland revenue.
Customs officers told the court that they had previously caught Gough trying to smuggle 25,660 cigarettes and 6 kilos of rolling tobacco through Robin Hood Airport on December 12. In April, he was caught with 35,400 cigarettes at Blackpool Airport.
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