Tobacco-laden carpets earn two-year prison term
13th July 2000, Page 9
13th July 2000
Page 9
Page 9, 13th July 2000
— Tobacco-laden carpets earn two-year prison term
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• A driver has begun a twoyear jail sentence after being caught smuggling more than a tonne of hand-rolling tobacco.
Philip Smiley, who worked for Channel Care Logistics in Bruges, Belgium hid the tobacco in a consignment of carpets.
Customs officers at Dover also found contraband spirits and cigarettes in his cab, bringing the total amount of unpaid duty to .£104,456, Maidstone Crown Court heard that an examination of Smiley's tachograph charts revealed discrepancies in the account of his journey.
Smiley admitted tampering with the tachograph charts but denied attempting to fraudulently avoid paying the duty. In his defence, he told the court that he had picked up the wrong trailer when collecting the carpets.