Businessman jailed for his part in NZ’s largest cigarette smuggling case

A businessman has been jailed for his role in the country’s largest cigarette smuggling case.

The man and his company have interim name suppression and appeared at the Auckland District Court on Thursday after earlier admitting charges of defrauding customs, making erroneous entries in customs documents and selling goods without paying duties.

The operation involved the smuggling of over 19 million cigarettes into Auckland, hidden inside office cabinets imported from China. The smuggling avoided excise customs duties of over $18 million.

Judge Tony Fitzgerald sentenced the man to five years and three months in prison and his company to fines.
He described the offending as being on a “massive scale” that was complicated, went on for nearly three and-a-half years and was motivated by greed.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/300027316/businessman-jailed-for-his-part-in-nzs-largest-cigarette-smuggling-case