A 47-YEAR OLD unemployed Calderdale man has been jailed for evading duty of more than £250,000 on cigarettes and tobacco.
Bradford Crown Court heard that police raided a house on Vicar Park Drive near Norton Tower at Warley in Halifax last July and discovered 117,040 cigarettes and 9.53kg of hand rolling tobacco. The duty evaded on this quantity is £19,009.36.
The following day, 1 August, Terence Hartley’s house at Moor End in Halifax was searched and a further 65,200 cigarettes and 122kg of tobacco were seized. The duty evaded amounts to £24,596.64.
Hartley admitted to storing cigarettes and tobacco at the Moor End property over the previous 12 months. The total duty lost over this period has been put at approximately £250,000.
Hartley was jailed for 12 months and was given an extra six months for storing fireworks at his house.
Customs spokesman Nick Shaw said: “Anyone who thinks they are getting a bargain might not realise this illegal trade damages honest businesses.’’
