A former Fermanagh councillor is among four men who have been handed prison sentences for their part in an illegal tobacco operation in Roslea.

Two men have been jailed, including fromer councillor Tony McPhillips, while two have received suspended sentences, after illicit cigarettes and tobacco worth nearly £2 million were seized in Northern Ireland and the Netherlands.

In December 2017 HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) officers, alongside the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and The National Crime Agency (NCA), seized 336 boxes of hand-rolling tobacco at the Roslea Enterprise Centre in Co Fermanagh.

CCTV images linked former local councillor, Anthony McPhillips, 62, and van driver Peter Hughes, 67, to the illicit haul. The men were seen driving off before HMRC and police arrived, but 56-year-old Belfast man, Stephen McKenna, was arrested at the scene. McPhillips and Hughes were arrested later by HMRC in early 2018.

Analysis of McKenna’s seized phone linked him and a fourth man, 67-year-old Peter Martin, to two million cigarettes that were seized by Dutch police before they reached Northen Ireland.

The cigarettes were discovered in a lorry near a warehouse in Rotterdam in August 2017 and the Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) gathered and shared evidence with HMRC that helped link McKenna and Martin to the seizure.

All four men pleaded guilty to excise fraud and were sentenced at Belfast Crown Court on Thursday 3 July, 2025.

An HMRC spokesperson said, “Illicit tobacco undermines legitimate retailers, funds wider crime, and deprives our vital public services of around £2.2 billion a year. 

“We will continue to work with partners like the Police Service of Northern Ireland and our Dutch counterparts to tackle the illicit trade and we urge anyone with information about the smuggling, distribution or sale of illicit tobacco to report it online.” 

The four men sentenced were: 

Stephen John Mckenna (DOB: 01/11/1968), of Rinnalea Gardens Belfast was jailed for two-and-a-half years.

Anthony Mary McPhillips (DOB: 06/12/1962), of Ashvale Avenue, Roslea, jailed for 18 months.

Peter Hughes (DOB: 27/07/1958), of Legmoylin Road Silverbridge, jailed for 18 months, suspended for two years.

Peter Gerard Gerald Martin (DOB: 14/03/1958), of Ballynaclosha Road, Silverbridge, jailed for 18 months, suspended for two years.

The total fraud figure is £1.93 million.