BBQ Smuggler Grilled By Customs

An Ashford man has been jailed for 30 months after attempting to smuggle over 3.5 million cigarettes through Dover and evade £556,381.80 in excise duty by disguising the haul as a consignment of barbeques.

Anthony William Murrell, 44, of Christchurch Road, Ashford, Kent, was sentenced following an investigation by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) officers. The barbeques - which were supposedly destined for Hinxhill, Kent - were a deliberate cover.

Malcolm Bragg, Assistant Director HMRC Criminal Investigations said:

"Cigarette smugglers cheat the country of vital revenue to fund vital public services like hospitals and schools. Smuggling also has a devastating impact on honest retailers. Working with our colleagues in the UK Border Agency, we will not hesitate to take action against those smuggling cigarettes into the country. Anyone with information about illegal smuggling activities should call the Customs' Hotline on 0800 59 5000."

Officers seized the cigarettes on 3 July 2008, when Anthony Murrell, a removals man was stopped at Dover Eastern Docks, after arriving in his lorry on a ferry from Calais. UK Border Agency (UKBA) officers discovered the haul when they searched the lorry and found the cigarettes in loose items of barbeque equipment. Anthony Murrell was arrested and HMRC officers commenced their investigation.

He was charged and subsequently convicted after trial on 22 July 2009, at Maidstone Crown Court, of being knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of excise duty chargeable on the cigarettes contrary to section 170(2) of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979.

Confiscation proceedings are in place.