Stay-at-home smugglers scam busted at Newcastle Airport
30.07.06
A new cigarette smuggling scam, where crooks never leave the airport, has 'gone up in smoke', after Customs officers caught on to the trick, according to a report in the Newcastle Evening Chronicle newspaper.
Criminals were buying cheap one-way flights, checking in and stocking up on their full allowance of duty free cigarettes. But instead of boarding their flight, they were mixing in with passengers from arriving flights before walking out. They then soldl the cigarettes for thousands on the black market in pubs and clubs on Tyneside.
But customs now say they are wise to the scam and have beefed up security checks to thwart the sly smugglers. They have also secured what is thought to be the first prosecution against someone using the scam in the UK.
Jaswant Bassi, 31, Scott Johnstone, 23, and Stephen Porter, 25, were each caught with 6,000 cigarettes after failing to board a plane to London. They sneaked out of Newcastle Airport and were seen handing over bags full of the cut-price cigarettes to an accomplice in the airport car park.
A Customs spokesman told the newspaper: 'They can be in and out of the airport within an hour and each time they do it, they can make more than £1,000. If they plan to do this a few times a week, they could make a fortune.'
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