A SIGNIFICANT sum of banknotes, totalling £46,000 and €30,000, along with illicit cigarettes, tobacco and alcohol have been seized at premises in the Newtownbutler area in a joint Customs/PSNI operation.

 

The lead role in the venture was taken by Customs officers whose department, in a tightly scripted statement, simple gave the various amounts of the items seized.

 

It stated that the operation was carried out, ‘to disrupt the sale of illegal tobacco and alcohol’, and, in addition to the estimated £46,000 and €30,000, the operation also uncovered some 8,000 suspected illicit cigarettes, over 2,000 litres of alcohol and 10kgs of hand rolling tobacco, worth an estimated £9,500 in evaded duty.

 

As for the nature and the location of the venue, details were fairly general, namely ‘a commercial and residential property in the Newtownbutler area’.

 

A spokesman for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), responding to our request for further details stated: 

“Due to the ongoing investigations, we will not be giving out any more details about the nature of the premises searched, the goods seized, or where they may have been bound.

“Investigations into the seizures are continuing.”

 

Mike Parkinson, the assistant director of the HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service, stated: “The trade in illicit alcohol and tobacco is a serious crime and one we are determined to disrupt.

 

“Criminals are robbing taxpayers of billions each year in unpaid duty and taxes and undercutting legitimate local businesses  who can’t compete with these illegal products.”

 

He appealed to anyone with information about the transport, storage or sale of suspected illicit tobacco to contact HMRC on the Customs’ Hotline number, 0800 59 5000.