Tobacco Smugglers Convicted 

Four men have received suspended sentences at Belfast Crown Court for their involvement in a cigarette smuggling fraud.
 

They attempted to evade more than £1.1m in duty and each received suspended jail sentences.

Brothers Patrick, 47, Plunkett, 44, and Benedict Mackle, 40, from Moy, Co Armagh, pleaded guilty at Belfast Crown Court in November 2007 to smuggling 5,976,200 cigarettes into Northern Ireland in a consignment of wooden flooring. 

Benedict and Plunkett Mackle were sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment, suspended for five years. Patrick Mackle received three years imprisonment, suspended for five years.

The fourth man, James Anthony Sloan (56) pleaded guilty to a breach of the Official Secrets Act. He received 18 months imprisonment suspended for five years for disclosing information in his possession, as a Crown servant, without lawful authority.

The three brothers were charged under section 170(2) of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 and James Anthony Sloan, was charged under section 4 (1) of the Official Secrets Act 1989.

In sentencing Sloan, the Judge added: "It is a breach of trust, not only to the public but to your colleagues that you behaved in the way you did. It should be clearly understood that cooperation with informers does not include helping criminals to evade justice and it is right that you pleaded guilty."

On 16 January 2003 a cargo ship, MV Hyundai Fortune, arrived in Southampton port from Port Klang in Malaysia. A container of wooden flooring consigned to a business address in Dungannon, Co Tyrone was selected for examination by HMRC.

The container was scanned by mobile x-ray equipment and subsequently searched by anti-smuggling officers. The search revealed four rows of wooden flooring concealing almost six million cigarettes.

The container was released for delivery in order to identify the individuals involved in the smuggling attempt.

The container arrived in Belfast Docks on the MV Celtic King on the 25 January 2003. On 27 January it was collected and delivered to a warehouse complex at 114 Ballynakilly Road, Coalisland.

Plunkett and Benedict Mackle were arrested as they unloaded the cigarettes from the container. Patrick Mackle and James Sloan were later arrested in connection with the investigation. The North West RART assisted the HMRC in the confiscation of the profits made by the Mackle brothers and at Belfast Crown Court on Wednesday 29^th October 2008, confiscation orders totalling £1,036,773 were granted against them.

Patrick Mackle, of Armagh Road, was ordered to pay £518,387, Benedict Mackle, of Main Street, £259,193 and Plunkett Mackle, of Clover Hill, also £259,193 all by 29 April 2009.

Each faces a default sentence if payment is not made by the due date - three years for Plunkett and Benedict Mackle and five years for Patrick Mackle.

John Whiting, of HM Revenue and Customs, said: "Today's result sends a significant message to anyone tempted to smuggle illegal tobacco products.

"HM Revenue & Customs will seek to recover any financial gain from those who involve themselves in excise fraud and will work with our partner agencies in the Organised Crime Task Force to stamp out the illegal trade in smuggled tobacco.

"Tobacco smuggling costs the taxpayer nearly £3bn a year in lost revenue, undermining honest retail businesses, whose trade is damaged by those undercutting them by evading tax."

CRIME DOESN’T PAY

The Regional Asset Recovery Team (RART) provides a multi agency approach to reducing crime through asset recovery.  The activity of the North West RART, which commenced operations in January 2004, is focused on engaging serious and organised crime that operates across individual Police Force boundaries.  The RARTs are located in the West Midlands, North West, North East, Wales and London providing coverage across five of the nine Association of Chief Police Officer (ACPO) regions.