Three men, who were caught supplying or receiving almost half a million smuggled cigarettes in Surrey, have been sentenced for evading more than £115,000 in excise duty.
One of the men, Dominik Mrzyglod, 38, was jailed for four years earlier this year for his role in this crime and for a separate offence of smuggling 1.2 million cigarettes inside tabletops.
He pleaded guilty on 29 March 2016 at Southwark Crown Court to the fraudulent evasion of excise duty, and was jailed in January 2017 for this and the previous tobacco offence.
Sebastian Swiezy, 36, of Hogsmill Way, Epsom, Surrey, pleaded guilty on 21 April 2017 at Blackfriars Crown Court to the fraudulent evasion of excise duty. He was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years, in June 2017. He must also complete 120 hours of unpaid work.
Abdul Faki, 52, of Chandos Road, London, pleaded guilty on 16 May 2017 at Blackfriars Crown Court to the fraudulent evasion of excise duty, and was jailed for 18 months in June.
HMRC investigators saw Mrzyglod and Swiezy supplying non-UK duty paid cigarettes to Faki at a car park in Dorking, Surrey, on 16 December 2015.
Officers arrested Faki at the scene and found 486,700 B&B cigarettes in the white van he was helping to load. The two other men fled before officers could apprehend them.
Mrzyglod was arrested at his home in Walton-on-Thames the following day. Swiezy fled the UK for Alicante, Spain, but was arrested at Gatwick Airport in April 2016 as he arrived on a flight from Poland.
“These criminals were aiming to undercut legitimate retailers in London and the Home Counties with this large quantity of smuggled cigarettes,” said David Margree, assistant director, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC.
“HMRC continues to target the supply of illicit tobacco, which.”
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