A South Yorkshire crime gang, who evaded £3.8m in duty and VAT by smuggling beer into the UK, has been jailed for a total of 19 years.
The four men, who came from Doncaster and Rotherham, used duplicated paperwork to bring truckloads of beer into the country from France, Belgium and Germany in a scam known as diversion fraud.
An investigation by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) found the gang sold the illegally imported goods for cash on a “no VAT, no invoice” basis to small off licences and other retailers across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, predominantly in Doncaster, Hull and Scunthorpe.
Ringleader Huseyin Zerze, of Lonsdale Avenue, Doncaster, used a sandwich shop in York as a front to hide his criminal scheme transforming it from making £30,000-a-year to spending around £1.5m on alcohol in five months.
Drug Arrests After Police Raid in Allerton
Appeal after serious collision on Vicar Lane in Leeds
Leeds 400 challenge launched to get city moving
Accrington drug dealer jailed for 10 years
Average Speed Cameras Installed on Harrogate Road
Police Appeal After Serious Collision in Moss Side
Culture at the Heart of Stockport’s Transformation
South Asian Art Exhibition Opens at Cartwright Hall
Men’s Mental Fitness Programme Launches in Blackburn
Council Calls for Tougher Fly-Tipping Sentences
The Golden Era
Bhangra Nights
Legal Show
Remix Saturdays