Ahmed Khezri jailed for £28million cigarette smuggling conspiracy

Ahmed Salim Khezri (DOB 05.04.1990) of Illminster, Rochdale was one of seven men jailed after a £28 million cigarette smuggling conspiracy was smashed. Khezri was convicted by a jury at Manchester Crown Court of conspiracy to evade excise duty and was sentenced to six years in prison.

The gang imported low grade and counterfeit tobacco, which was then sold across northern England and Scotland. They were tracked down with the help of fingerprints and DNA found on discarded cans and bottles at sites where they had been transferring loads of cigarettes.

Ringleader Kamaran Khader was jailed for six years for his role in planning the criminal operation sourcing the cigarettes and tobacco and arranging their delivery. Once in the UK, the goods were transported to industrial storage sites in Blackburn, Oldham, Essex, Ascot and Slough.

Jo Tyler, Assistant Director, Criminal Investigation, HMRC, said: “Cigarette smuggling is a serious criminal offence and today’s sentences reflect that. HMRC is committed to identifying and bringing to justice those who are involved in this type of crime.”

The group came to the attention of HMRC in 2010 after officers found 390,000 cigarettes inside a transit van and a further 780,000 cigarettes hidden between sheets of insulation at an address in Blackburn.

The gang were also linked to a seizure of 840,000 Jin Ling cigarettes in September 2011 in Oldham and a shipment of nine million Golden Eagle cigarettes which arrived in Southampton in April 2012.

HMRC officers began to track the gang and observed a meeting between five of them in Essex in May 2012. They followed them to a local storage unit and discovered a further 1.4 million illegal cigarettes and a plastic carrier bag containing £84,400 in cash.

In January 2013 HMRC officers intercepted a van containing 270,000 cigarettes at an industrial unit in Ascot and in January 2013 they found 1.8 million duty free cigarettes at a site in Slough.

The men were jailed at Manchester Crown Court on Thursday 10 April 2014 and Friday 11 April 2014 by His Honour Judge Mansell QC.