Customs seize 28,000 cigarettes at Dorset port

The cigarettes and tobacco were seized from a vehicle at Poole ferry terminal

A man caught with 28,000 cigarettes crammed into a people carrier at a Dorset port has been given a six-month suspended sentence.

HM Customs said Karl Hansen, 47, also had 450kg (0.45 tonnes) of tobacco when his vehicle arrived at Poole ferry terminal from Cherbourg, France.

Bournemouth Crown Court heard customs officials found the roof-box was filled with cigarettes on 3 October.

The Teesside man had pleaded guilty to evading excise duty of about £71,000.

Vehicle forfeited

Hansen, from Stockton-on-Tees, was also given a three-month curfew order, restricting him to his home address between 2100 GMT and 0700 GMT.

His jail sentence was suspended for two years.

The judge also ordered that the Chrysler Grand Voyager he was driving when the contraband was discovered should be forfeited.

Costs of £250 were awarded to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

Derek Brooks, HMRC senior criminal investigator, said: "Cigarette-smuggling is not a victimless crime, but theft from law-abiding UK residents. "

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