Salford couple jailed for £3.8m tobacco duty fraud
A couple from Manchester have been
jailed for a £3.8 million excise fraud, involving over 25 tonnes of counterfeit
tobacco, after an investigation by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). Feng Gao, 39,
and his partner Mingshu Yang, 43, from Salford, were linked to
over 28 deliveries of illegal hand rolling tobacco (HRT) across the North West
and 8 tobacco seizures in Manchester, Liverpool and the Netherlands.
The pair used 'cover loads' of shoes and shelves to smuggle the
tobacco into the UK. Some of the shoe soles and shelf units were hollowed out to
hide the illegal tobacco. During searches in Manchester and Liverpool, HMRC
seized thousands of empty counterfeit HRT packages and a tobacco processing
machine.
Sandra Smith, Assistant Director, Criminal Investigation, HMRC, said:-
"Disrupting criminal trade is at the heart of our strategy to clampdown on the
illicit tobacco market, which costs the UK around £2.1 billion a year. This is
theft from the taxpayer, denying public services much needed money, as well as
undermining legitimate traders. We urge anyone with information about any other
commercial trading of smuggled goods and the associated tax evasion to contact
HMRC on:- 0800 595000."
HMRC officers originally arrested Gao in May 2013 outside a property on Teck
Street, Liverpool, with over 100,500 fake tobacco packages in his possession.
The couple's home in Salford was searched and investigators found the back
garden strewn with debris from the smuggled loads and the garden shed full of
boxes of illegal tobacco and fake packaging. Other evidence linked Gao to
storage units in Liverpool and Salford.
In 2012, these storage units had been searched by HMRC and UK Border Force (UKBA)
officers and were found to contain large quantities of fake tobacco pouches and
illegal HRT. In addition, Dutch customs officials had intercepted a large
consignment of similar goods hidden in floating shelf units destined for one of
these sites. The investigators were able to link all these earlier seizures to
Gao and Yang.
Gao and Yang pleaded guilty to UK Excise Duty evasion and fraud offences in
March 2015. At their original sentencing in April, Gao failed to attend leaving
his partner, Yang, to face the charges alone. The hearing was adjourned until 26
May 2015 and a bench warrant for Gao's arrest was issued. Once again Gao failed
to appear, and this week he was sentenced in his absence to five years jail.
Yang was jailed for nine months.
Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Gao, please contact either HMRC,
the Police or Crimestoppers.
