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Three jailed for baccy stash under doughnuts
Page 10
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111 Three HGV drivers have been jailed for a total of eight and a half years for smuggling £1.2m of cigarettes into the UK.
Customs officers discovered a stash of 3.78 million Regal cigarettes concealed within a truck-load of frozen doughnuts in March 2001. The driver, Michael Rowland, said he worked for Stoke-based John Warburton.
In May of that year a second truck, driven by Mark Fowell, was stopped by Customs and 4.5 tonnes of Golden Virginia rolling tobacco was discovered.
On the same day, Customs officers swooped on Warburton at the Channel Tunnel terminal in Coquettes. His car also contained cigarettes and rolling tobacco and items linking him to the HGV driven by Fowell.
All three men admitted bringing the contraband Into the country during journeys through Europe two years ago.
Rowland was sentenced to two years and nine months, Fowell to two years and three months and Warburton was sentenced to three years and six months.
"These men were professional smugglers with the intention of stealing huge amounts of money from the public purse," says a Customs spokesman. "We are determined to crack down on tobacco smuggling and this counts as a major success."