Smuggling loses £770m in tax
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• Smugglers cost the UK £770m in tobacco and alcohol taxes every year, according to Customs & Excise's most comprehensive smuggling survey to date. Much of the illicit trade is carried in vans.
Customs is drafting another 25 officers into Dover to clamp down on the smugglers—it claims their activities cost almost 5% of the total £18.6m revenue. It arrived at this figure after talking with the tobacco and drinks industries and monitoring travellers at south and south-eastern ports in June. Smuggling is probably more common than its figures indicate, says Customs, because the survey only included people carrying twice the allowed amount who seemed likely to sell their loads for profit.
However, Customs admits that the smugglers may not be costing the country as much as first appears because some of the goods they bring in would not be consumed if they weren't available at smuggled prices.