AT THE HEART OF THE ROAD TRANSPORT INDUSTRY.

Call our Sales Team on 0208 912 2120

170,000 fake cigarettes 'for personal use'

15th March 2007, Page 14
15th March 2007
Page 14
Page 14, 15th March 2007 — 170,000 fake cigarettes 'for personal use'
Close
Noticed an error?
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.

Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

A HAULIER HAS BEEN warned he is facing a jail sentence for smuggling 170,000 counterfeit cigarettes into Britain.

And Keith Nicholls — who claimed he intended smoking the cigarettes to feed his 100a-day habit — was told in court that the fake tobacco contained dangerously high levels of poisons and toxic metals.

Newcastle Crown Court heard how police discovered the smuggled cigarettes, 25kg of fake rolling tobacco and an imitation firearm when they visited Nicholls home last September to investigate an assault allegation.

Revenue and Customs officers were called to the house in Cambois, near Blyth, and a further search uncovered £10,000 in cash and paperwork listing cigarette brands, quantities, people's names and amounts of money.

Nicholls, who denied a charge of evading £32,000 of excise duty, claimed that all the tobacco found was for his personal use.

The cash and paperwork, he said, belonged to his business, K&M Hauliers and Removers.

The court was also told that the haul had been tested and found to contain five times the amount of toxic chemicals in legally produced and marketed cigarettes. There were particularly high traces of cadmium, arsenic and lead.

Nicholls was found guilty and warned by Judge Guy Whitburn that "this was not a low level crime" and that he was considering sending him to prison.

The case has been adjourned for six weeks for sentence.


comments powered by Disqus