Jail for pair over unpaid £468,000 duty on tobacco
Two men have been jailed after admitting that they fraudulently evaded the payment of tobacco duty worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.
It followed HM Revenue and Customs raids aided by sniffer dogs on lock-ups on an industrial estate in the town and at Mold, and both men now face proceeds of crime proceedings.
Hallmat Mahmood, 33, of Herbert Jennings Avenue, Wrexham, was sent to prison for 19 months and 36-year-old Dara Ahmed of High Street, Wrexham, for six months.
Judge Huw Rees, at Caernarfon Crown Court, was told the total amount of duty was £468,000 and called both of them dishonest men.
He said : "It's serious because it has an affect on commercial integrity and the economic wellbeing in this country."
The duty allegedly evaded by Mahmood was put at £272,000 and that by Ahmed, £195,000.
Elen Owen, prosecuting on behalf of HM Revenue and Customs, described how a total of nearly 571,000 cigarettes and more than 300 kilos of hand-rolled tobacco had been found.
A shop owned by Ahmed in High Street, Wrexham, the Euro Delikatesy, smelled of petrol to try and put dogs off the scent and Polish cigarettes were found in a concealed compartment in a basement wall.
She added that 12,000 Polish cigarettes and 4.9 kilos of hand-rolled tobacco were discovered in a Range Rover in which Mahmood was about to drive off. At Ahmed's home 840 cigarettes were in a laundry bag.
Supermarket
Barrister Saleema Mahmood, for Ahmed, sought a suspended sentence. She said he'd come to the UK from Iraq seeking asylum. His pregnant wife was in Morocco but hoped to join him in this country.
Marc Stevens, defending Mahmood, said his father had been in the Iraqi government but a casualty of Saddam Hussein. Mahmood had got out of the country after his sister was seized. He had always worked after coming to Britain and planned to open another supermarket in the Chester area.
The court was told on Wednesday that both now worked in the same supermarket in Chester, Mahmood as director and Ahmed as manager.
Judge Rees said that in interviews with a probation officer neither man had shown remorse.
Richard Wilkinson, assistant director of the HM Revenue and Customs fraud investigation service, said : "Mahmood and Ahmed constructed a web of lies to try and cover up their illegal operation which undercut honest, hard-working retailers who do the right thing. Now they're paying the price for their actions.
"I would urge anybody with information about individuals or businesses involved in tax fraud to report it to HMRC online or call our Fraud Hotline."
