Smuggled tobacco hidden in felt-tip pens lorry load

Three people have been jailed for attempting to smuggle more than two tonnes of tobacco, hidden inside a truck load of felt-tip pens, into the UK.

Maidstone Crown Court was told that HGV driver Mark Sneidr, 26, from the Czech Republic, was stopped by Border Force officers at Dover in February 2014 as he disembarked a ferry from Calais.

Officers searched his lorry and found 2.2 tonnes of tobacco concealed among the cargo of Crayola branded pens.

The officers also stopped a car containing Sasa Saale, 33, and Juraj Gabor, 44, also from the Czech Republic, that arrived on the same ferry.

HMRC enquiries confirmed that all three men were involved in smuggling the tobacco into the UK and attempted to evade £367,245 in excise duty and VAT.

Sneidr pleaded guilty to evasion of duty on tobacco and was sentenced to two years and three months in prison.

Saale pleaded guilty to evasion of duty due on the tobacco and was sentenced to two years and three months’ imprisonment.

Gabor had denied evading excise duty on the tobacco but was found guilty of the charge and sentenced to three years in prison.