Alcohol gang jailed in £1.8m duty fraud

A gang involved in a £1.8million excise alcohol fraud across North West England have been jailed for over 19 years for supplying illicit non duty paid alcohol to local retailers.

The gang – which included a man from Rochdale - bought alcohol from legitimate bonded warehouses under the pretence of shipping them to Europe.

They then illegally diverted the shipments to various locations within the UK, selling on the drink without paying the duty owed.

The mastermind behind the fraud, Paramjit Bagri from Holywell, North Wales, and five other men, were charged with conspiring to evade UK duty between January 2007 and January 2008.

Paramjit Bagri, Mohammed Vagas, from Rochdale, Nadim Iqbal, from Oldham and Baldeep Singh Tahkar, from Billingham, pleaded guilty before the start of the trial.

Richard Gerrard Ellis, from Manchester and Mohammed Tariq, from Scotland, were found guilty by a jury at Manchester Crown Court in June 2011.

Paramjit Bagri, 45, was sentenced on 30 September 2011 to five and a half years.

Mohammed Vaqas, 28, of 63 Derby Street, Rochdale, was sentenced on 8 July 2011 to 51 weeks in jail suspended for 12 months plus 180 hours unpaid community work to be actioned in the next 12 months and has to pay £1,500 in costs within 18 months.

Nadim Iqbal, 37, of 24 Netherfield Close, Oldham, was sentenced on 8 July 2011 to one year and nine months in jail. Iqbal was one of the ‘minders’ or ‘muscle’ employed by the gang who oversaw the storage of the diverted consignments – some traced by HMRC to the Rochdale and Bolton areas.

Baldeep Singh Tahkar, of Billingham, Cleveland was sentenced on 14 July 2011 to one year and four months.

Richard Ellis was sentenced on 8 July 2011 to five years in jail and upon his release he will have a five-year director’s disqualification.

Mohammed Ajmal Tariq, 46, of Post Office House, Main Street, Westfield, Bathgate, Scotland was sentenced on 8 July 2011 to five years in jail and a seven-year directors disqualification.

Mike O’Grady, Assistant Director of Criminal Investigation for HMRC, said: “These men diverted large numbers of consignments of alcohol from their intended legitimate destinations thereby avoiding paying UK duty and taxes. It was a very calculated attempt to defraud the Crown and to personally profit from the illegal trade.”

Confiscation proceedings are now underway involving the analysis of how key figures in the gang attempted to evade taxes and hide the cash gained from their illegal trade. The evaded UK duty alone was given as over £1,799,448 in court, however, the confiscation will look to determine other tax evasion and criminal benefits associated with their activities.