A smuggling gang which was caught handling illegal cigarettes and tobacco worth more than £100,000 in lost duty and taxes has been spared jail.

Five men from London, Northampton and Essex, were caught by government officers from her Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) three times before being sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday, May 11.

Recovery driver Karwan Karwani, 40, and labourer Edmund Simoni, 32, were arrested after being caught moving more than 73,000 illegal Russian cigarettes between vans outside a Dartford warehouse in July.

During a search of Simoni’s house, officers found a handwritten note listing sales of cigarettes and tobacco. More than £11,000 in cash was seized from the van Karwani was driving, which belonged to his cousin Sadullah Kawani.

Sadulla, 32, was arrested later that month, along with Nicholas Lowe, 49, as they collected 260,000 cigarettes from a storage yard in Bromley-by-Bow. UK duty had not been paid on the cigarettes, and more than £10,000 in cash was found in one of the vehicles.

Lowe, of Kents Hill Road, Benfleet, was caught again a week later with Barry Kenny, 30, as they moved 118 kilograms of rolling tobacco between their vehicles in a supermarket car park in Edmonton, north London. Officers found nearly £5,000 in cash on Kenny’s passenger seat.

The total duty the five men evaded was £104,700, HMRC stated.

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Pic credit: HMRS

  • Karwan Karwani of Gareth Drive, Edmonton, was found guilty of fraudulently evading tax and money laundering, and sentenced to six months’ imprisonment, suspended for 18 months and ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work.
  • His cousin Sadullah Kawani, of Firs Lane, Enfield, was also found guilty of fraudulently evading tax and money laundering following two trials in October 2016 and February 2017, and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, suspended for 24 months and ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.
  • Edmund Simoni of Balfour Close, Northampton, pleaded guilty to fraudulently evading tax and money laundering on the first day of the trial in October, and was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment, suspended for 18 months and ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work.7
  • Nicholas Lowe, of Benfleet in Essex, admitted fraudulently evading tax and money laundering during a plea and case management hearing in April 2016, and sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment, suspended for 24 months, and ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.
  • Barry Kenny, of Kents Hill Road, Benfleet, was found guilty of fraudulently evading tax and sentenced to four month’s imprisonment suspended for two years.