Three jailed for tobacco smuggling estimated to have avoided £1m in duty

Shop owner Nawzad Kamel Mustafa received six years following a trial at Doncaster Crown Court, with worker Hatim Tahir Omar being sentenced to five years. He had also tried to disguise some of the contraband by shaping it like a bed.

Botan Aziz, who grabbed a bag of seized contraband and ran off, as investigators were packing up the goods was sentenced to three months suspended for two years.

According to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the Treasury lost £985,000 in unpaid duty. The offences at Sunrise Mini Mart, St Sepulchre Gate West, Doncaster, took place between May 2009 and September last year.

Mustafa, 31, of St James Street, Hyde Park, Doncaster and Omar, 26, of Sandringham Road, Intake, Doncaster, were both found guilty of two offences of dealing in non-duty excise goods.

Azizi, 26, of Ferham Road, Holmes, Rotherham, was found guilty of dealing with non-duty paid excise goods and pleaded guilty to one charge of obstruction at Doncaster Crown Court.

Over seven months, HMRC officers visited the shop four times.

On each occasion they seized smuggled cigarettes and hand rolling tobacco. The illegal goods were found in a locked sweet cabinet, under vegetables and in the sleeves of a hanging jacket. Hatim Tahir Omar who was looking after the shop on three of the visits had his vehicle and flat searched; more smuggled goods were found there

Paperwork removed from the shop, Mustafa’s home and Omar’s flat indicated the men had been trading in smuggled cigarettes and tobacco since May 2009. Investigators estimated more than 2.25m cigarettes and more than 3,300 kilos of tobacco or 66,000 pouches had been sold.

In a further twist, on June 7, South Yorkshire Police officers intercepted Botan Azizi in Rotherham as he placed a large black bin liner into the back of a car. It contained approximately 6,000 Jin Ling cigarettes, a brand not legally sold in the UK.