The United Kingdom Border Force has seized more than 4.8 million illegal cigarettes and 405kg of rolling tobacco worth an estimated \u00a32.59m in a four-day crackdown at Manchester Airport.\n<\/p>\n
The Home Office disclosed this in a statement published on Monday.\n<\/p>\n
The operation targeted \u201chigh-risk flights, baggage and passengers, leading to four arrests and the denial of entry to 23 people.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cOfficers also seized 35kg of cannabis.\u201d<\/p>\n
In one case, \u201ca passenger arriving on a flight from Dubai attempted to smuggle 100,000 cigarettes in six suitcases.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Home Office said smugglers used \u201cconcealment methods, including modified pillows and suitcases with false bottoms, while specialist detector dogs assisted officers during the operation.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
It added that 26 people had been referred for further investigation following the crackdown.<\/p>\n
The department said \u201csmugglers could face up to seven years in prison and airline bans, while foreign nationals could be denied entry and have their Electronic Travel Authorisations cancelled.\u201d <\/p>\n
Minister for Migration and Citizenship, Jo White, said, \u201cTobacco smuggling is not just about a cut-price packet of cigarettes. It undercuts honest businesses and lines the pockets of organised criminals.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThose who think they can profit from smuggling illegal cigarettes into Britain should think again. You will be caught, prosecuted, and put behind bars.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
The Home Office said Border Force and HM Revenue and Customs seized 1.9 billion illicit cigarettes in the previous year, resulting in 201 arrests, 134 charges and 83 convictions.\n<\/p>\n
It added that retailers caught selling illegal cigarettes could face fines of up to \u00a310,000, while penalties imposed in the previous year exceeded \u00a32m.\n<\/p>\n
Adam Knight, Head of Border Force\u2019s National Threat Response Team, said, \u201cOur officers work day in, day out to stop illegal cigarettes reaching Britain\u2019s streets.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cOperations like this stop smugglers in their tracks and give us the intelligence to hunt down the criminal networks behind them.<\/p>\n
\u201cCriminals change their tactics, and so do we. Try to undermine our border and we will come after you.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
Source: <\/p>\n
The United Kingdom Border Force has seized more than 4.8 million illegal cigarettes and 405kg of rolling tobacco worth an estimated \u00a32.59m in a four-day crackdown at Manchester Airport. The… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1474\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}