The lengths dealers will go to!

Just been reading about a couple of guys who threw away nearly £70,000 when they were spotted unloading boxes supposedly filled with flowers, but which actually contained illegal tobacco. They tossed the cash over a garden wall then told HMRC officers that it was nothing to do with them.

When the 'flower boxes' were searched they contained over 40kg of tobacco - that's enough to make a huge number of roll ups as it's the same as 800 50g pouches. They also had cigarettes and alcohol.

One of the men involved, a market trader, was given a 12 months suspended jail sentence and 300 hours community work at Manchester Crown Court. The other was sent to prison for 19 months for multiple duty evasion offences.

It shows that illegal tobacco is concealed in many different ways. Millions of cigarettes were found recently at Humberside ports hidden away in concrete blocks, so it shows that criminals have their eyes on big profits from people on the street if they're prepared to go to such lengths.