Driver jailed for tobacco smuggling scam run by Warrington man
A LORRY driver caught smuggling more than £205,000 in cash out of the UK as part of a tobacco scam orchestrated by a Warrington man has been jailed for three years.
Slovenian Milos Dukic, 46, was stopped by Border Force officers at the Port of Dover as he attempted to board a ferry to Calais, France in February.
A search of the cab of the lorry he was driving uncovered £205,645 in bank notes hidden in a plastic bag.
Dukic was arrested on suspicion of money laundering and the case was referred to HMRC for investigation.
It was found that the cash smuggled by Dukic was from an illegal tobacco scam orchestrated by Warrington man John Parker, 57.
Forensic evidence linked Parker to the plastic bag, found in the cab, containing the cash.
Alan Tully, assistant director, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said: “Forensic investigation allowed us to link the cash found in the lorry’s cab back to the wider tobacco smuggling operation, and put these men behind bars.
“Working with our partner agencies, HMRC will not hesitate to investigate those committing tax related fraud, and recover any proceeds from the crime, to ensure that no one is beyond our reach.”
Dukic was charged on 16 February 2016 with two Proceeds of Crime offences – concealing and removing criminal property.
He pleaded guilty at Canterbury Crown Court on 30 June 2016 to one count of money laundering by concealing criminal property. He was jailed for three years yesterday (August 23).
Parker and lorry driver, Dragisa Jovanovic, 63, were jailed on July 19 for excise duty evasion, after the tobacco smuggling investigation by HMRC.
The two men were arrested at an industrial estate in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire in April, as they unloaded 300 boxes of tobacco from a lorry, which also contained furniture.
Some 1.8 tonnes of illicit tobacco, worth more than £350,000 in evaded excise duty, was seized.
A bin liner found in Parker’s car contained £125,000 cash intended as payment for the tobacco; another bag contained £16,000 in cash as payment for the lorry driver – Jovanovic.
Parker was jailed for four years and Dragisa Jovanovic was jailed for two-and-a-half years at Luton Crown Court.
HMRC has already seized the cash and confiscation proceedings are now under way.
