Two men have been jailed after they were caught with almost 700,000 illegal cigarettes.
Aram Ibrahim, 32, of Rock Street, Sheffield, and Hounar Baker, 35, formerly of Marshfield Street, Bradford, were storing illegal cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco worth £212,218 in unpaid duty.
HMRC officers visited Kosar Mini Market, on Southfield Lane, Bradford, in March 2017 and found 3,240 non-UK duty paid cigarettes in a bag in the shop’s backroom. Ibrahim was in charge of the shop at the time.
On the same day, investigators discovered 515,316 cigarettes and 42.85 kilos of hand-rolling tobacco at a storage unit rented by Ibrahim on Beckside Road in Bradford. More tobacco products were found at another storage unit that was rented by Baker and the Kosar Mini Market address was on the rental agreement.
Baker, of no fixed abode, was caught with a stash of illegal goods at an address on Girlington Road one month later. In total, he was caught with 181,080 cigarettes and 71 kilos of hand-rolling tobacco.
Ibrahim was sentenced to 16 months and Baker 12 months.
Eden Noblett, Assistant Director, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said: “Ibrahim and Baker thought their stash of illegal goods would go undetected, but they were wrong. Trade in illegal tobacco harms legitimate businesses and deprives the UK of money which should be used to fund our public services.”
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