Hair salon owners jailed for smuggling 2.5 tons of tobacco into UK

Two hair salon owners who smuggled 2.5 tons of tobacco into the UK in a £450,000 tax fraud have been jailed.Mohammed Kattany, 37, director of Unique Hairdressers in Bramhall, hid smuggled fruit-flavored tobacco from Dubai in freight imports, postal parcels and his own luggage.He was assisted by accomplice Ahmed Al-Salaima, 33, who owned Snipz hairdressers in Withington.Both men were arrested in July 2013 after HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) investigators seized illegal tobacco at the Port of Felixstowe, Heathrow Airport and Manchester Airport.The smuggling attempts were traced back to companies or addresses associated with Kattany and Al-Salaima.Manchester Crown Court heard Kattany was also the owner of Sweet and Salt, on Wilmslow Road, Rusholme. He used both businesses in the smuggling attempts.Kattany would make multiple trips abroad, often to Dubai, in order to arrange the smuggling consignments and was caught with undeclared tobacco products in his own luggage at customs in the UK.Al-Salaima would use Snipz to deliver and distribute the illegal tobacco into smaller vans.
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/hair-salon-owners-jailed-smuggling-10799504