Meaty enterprise

A retail butcher who was caught stocking and selling more than 13,000 counterfeit cigarettes at his shop in Greenock, Scotland, was raided three times in two months, according to an exclusive story by David Goodwin for the Greenock Telegraph.
The 71-year-old Adam Johnstone-Smith was said to have hidden part of his cigarette stock in a vat of sausage spice mix in a possible bid to throw sniffer dogs off the scent.
Johnstone-Smith – who had 13,360 counterfeit cigarettes seized – said he’d resorted to the illegal side-line because his business was in “dire straits”.
But a sheriff said that Johnstone-Smith “must have made significant money” from dealing in the inferior-quality tobacco.
HM Revenue and Customs and Trading Standards teams visited the shop on June 16 last year and confiscated 8,400 cigarettes and 1.7 kg of hand-rolling tobacco.
The shop was searched again on July 7 and 4,300 cigarettes were seized.
A third visit with dogs on August 17 yielded yet more cigarettes and packs of hand-rolling tobacco concealed within a plastic bin containing the spice mix.
Johnstone-Smith pleaded guilty to being knowingly concerned in carrying, harbouring, concealing or in any other manner dealing goods which were chargeable with duty and did this with intent to ‘defraud Her Majesty’ of £4,548.
The court heard that he had paid the duty prior to his sentencing hearing.
Smith was ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work within six months as an alternative to prison.
An HMRC spokesman was quoted as saying that the sale of illicit tobacco would not be tolerated.
“Disrupting criminal trade is at the heart of our strategy to clampdown on the illicit tobacco market, which costs the UK around £2.5 billion a year,” he said.
“This is stealing from the taxpayer and undermines legitimate traders.”
The full story is at: http://www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk/news/16161444.Butcher_caught_in_fake_cigarettes_raid_hid_goods_in_sausage_mix/