Customs team arrests Widnes suspect in ‘£11m tobacco smuggling’ raid

A 56-year-old company director from Widnes has been arrested in connection with a suspected tobacco smuggling fraud worth an estimated £11m. HM Revenue And Customs (HMRC) officers searched a property in the town on Tuesday, where they seized computers, phones and business records allegedly relating to a criminal enterprise. Addresses were also searched in south Armagh in Northern Ireland yesterday as part of the same operation. The arrest follows the seizure of 32m illicit cigarettes and nearly five tons of shisha tobacco by officers from the Revenue’s Customs Service and the An Garda Siochana in Drogheda in Ireland on Tuesday.