Van driver admits to delivering thousands of illegal cigarettes to Blaydon buyers

A van driver has admitted selling thousands of smuggled cigarettes to Tyneside buyers after being stopped leaving the region.  A carrier bag stuffed with £23,385 of cash was found in David Walker’s Ford Transit when he was pulled over at the A1 Washington Services on the morning of February 20 last year.  HMRC officers had followed the 48-year-old, and another man, after watching them crack deals in trading estates and a cafe in Blaydon, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

In total, 240,000 cigarettes had been sold in Tyneside minus the legal duty required, meaning £53,895 never found its way to the Treasury.

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/van-driver-admits-delivering-thousands-9069586