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Duty evaders rounded up
Page 7
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It Senior managers from national haulage companies are implicated in a 9,30m scam to avoid paying tax on alcohol distributed throughout the UK.
Customs & Excise says nine arrests were made last week during raids on 50 warehouses, offices and homes.
More arrests are expected as the investigation, which has already taken several months, now concentrates on documents and computer records.
A Customs spokesman says: "There are hauliers involved in this crime. It is not something that lowly workers themselves can organise. You need to have a fair level of expertise and responsibility within the company to perpetuate this sort of crime."
The names of the businesses implicated in the fraud have not yet been disclosed. Those arrested, who are all from the South East, have not yet been charged and have been released on police hail.
The Customs spokesman says all the alcohol originated from bonded warehouses. "There are two routes for the alcohol. Either it goes to the domestic market and duty is payable or it goes overseas and documents are supplied to say it has been exported in lieu of tax payments. Documents were being provided to say goods were destined for abroad when they were being diverted for home use."
He says the maximum penalty for the crime is seven years' imprisonment and that trucks will be seized where they have been knowingly used for the fraud.
The raids took place in High Wycombe, Middlesex, Kent, Essex, London, Beading, Southampton, Bristol, Gloucester, Swansea and the Isle of Man.