LANDSCAPE gardener Kevin Woolton has been jailed for 15 months by Reading Crown Court for smuggling almost a million counterfeit cigarettes into Britain from Russia.
Woolton, 45, of The Mountains, Wroughton, pleaded guilty to smuggling the cigarettes, which were found hidden after being shipped in through Hull port.
Another Wroughton landscape gardener, Joe Smith, 22, of Hay Lane, pleaded guilty to smuggling and of harbouring a further 6,400 non-duty paid cigarettes. He was sentenced to 120 hours of community service.
The men were arrested after a Customs surveillance operation at Lambourn Woodlands, near Hungerford, in October last year.
A freight container had arrived from Russia, via the port of Hull. Woolton and Smith were arrested as they unloaded 954,400 counterfeit cigarettes from a bulkhead concealment in the container. The cigarettes have an estimated duty evasion value of £130,561.
Customs spokeswoman Amanda Spencer said: "This case shows Customs' determination to hit the smugglers hard in any part of the UK.
"Organised smuggling attempts like this are a serious crime.
"Criminals must realise their chances of being caught are increasing all the time.
"Woolton was a professional smuggler who is now paying the inevitable price for his crime."
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