Fake fags haul at Coventry Airport
20.05.06
Millions of counterfeit cigarettes have been found in a crackdown by customs officers working at a Coventry Airport air freight depot.
Some 7.2 million cigarettes and 692 kilos of rolling tobacco were seized in a week-long campaign at Coventry International Hub, a large air freight distribution centre at Coventry airport. The cigarettes entered the UK from illegal factories in China. They were mostly fakes of well-known British brands like Super Kings, Benson & Hedges, Lambert & Butler and Marlborough.
HM Revenue and Customs officers spent the week at the distribution centre as part of a continuing campaign to stamp out the illegal trade - which costs the taxpayer nearly £3 billion a year in lost revenue. The tax evasion on 7.2 million cigarettes is around £1.4 million, and nearly £100,000 on 629 kilos of hand rolling tobacco.
Graeme Anderson, head of detection for Revenue and Customs, said: 'The illicit cigarette trade breeds contempt for the law by encouraging otherwise honest people to trade with criminals. We are aware that most smokers buying cheap cigarettes are unlikely to realise they are buying counterfeit tobacco products which provide a whole new set of risks to smokers.'
Tests on previous counterfeit hauls have revealed the cigarettes contained up to 60 percent more tar, 80 percent more nicotine, and 133 percent more carbon monoxide. In addition research has shown counterfeit cigarettes contain three times the levels of arsenic, five times the level of cadmium and nearly six times the level of lead found in genuine brands.
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