In a significant blow to the illegal tobacco trade, Jatinder Bains, 52, from Butterton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, has been sentenced to a six-year prison term for orchestrating a vast international tobacco smuggling operation. Bains was convicted of smuggling over 20 million illegal cigarettes into the UK, a criminal endeavour that deprived the government of £4.5 million in due taxes.
The illegal operation came to a halt when HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) officers intercepted the cigarettes and disrupted plans to smuggle an additional 20 million into the country. The Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) of the Netherlands was instrumental in the case, providing crucial phone recordings that linked Bains to Dutch criminal gangs and confirmed his involvement in the smuggling activities.
