One million cigarettes seized by Border Force at Hull
An attempt to smuggle more than a million cigarettes into the UK has been prevented by Border Force officers at Hull docks.
The cigarettes had been shipped to the UK inside an unaccompanied trailer which arrived at the port from Rotterdam, Holland.
Officers discovered the cigarettes hidden inside shrink wrapped boxes which were labelled as roofing materials. A total of 1,050,000 cigarettes were found.
Mark Robinson, Border Force assistant director for the Humber Ports, said:
This seizure is down to the vigilance of Border Force officers who regularly foil smuggling attempts like this.
By stopping this shipment we have starved those responsible of the proceeds of their criminality.
I would urge anyone tempted by cheap cigarettes and tobacco to think again. The black market cheats honest traders and it is effectively stealing from the public purse.
Had the smuggling attempt proved successful it could have cost the Treasury approximately £250,000 in unpaid duty and VAT.
The seizures were made Thursday (22 October) at about 12.30pm.
Border Force officers use hi-tech search equipment to combat immigration crime and detect banned and restricted goods that smugglers attempt to bring into the country.
They use an array of search techniques, which in addition to sniffer dogs includes carbon dioxide detectors, heartbeat monitors and scanners - as well as visual searches - to find illegal drugs, firearms and tobacco which would otherwise end up causing harm to local people, businesses and communities.
Anyone with information about activity they suspect may be linked to smuggling can call our hotline on 0800 59 5000.
