A Hungarian lorry driver has been arrested after more than four million cigarettes were found at Dover.
Customs officers who stopped a Hungarian-registered lorry at the Kent port on Thursday found an estimated £708,000 worth of cigarettes.
The 35-year-old driver from Wekerle near Budapest, was arrested, questioned and bailed pending further inquiries.
Bob Gaiger of HM Revenue & Customs said: "We take a very serious view of cigarette and tobacco smuggling."
Sep 25, 2009
Sep 23, 2009
NY judge blocks higher fees for tobacco dealers
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York's fee increases for cigarette-selling shops were temporarily blocked by a state judge, a retail association said on Friday, leaving the current $100-a-year charge in effect for now.
State Supreme Court Justice Thomas Feinman issued a temporary restraining order that prevents the state charging fees that could have climbed to as high as $5,000-a-year for stores with high volumes of sales, said James Calvin, president of the New York Association of Convenience Stores.
The fee increases were designed to stop about 40 percent of the state's 24,000 licensed tobacconists from selling cigarettes in an effort to improve public health, he said.
"But that theory is all wet because most of the displaced smokers would merely shift their tobacco purchases to Indian reservations, the Internet and the black market, making things worse for small business, tax revenue and public health," Calvin said in a statement.
A spokesman for New York Governor David Paterson had no immediate comment.
The state's governors have for years failed to force Native American reservation stores to charge New York state taxes on sales of cigarettes and gasoline. The state claims it loses hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues as a result.
Non-reservation stores say they cannot compete with the lower prices the Native American stores can offer.
State Supreme Court Justice Thomas Feinman issued a temporary restraining order that prevents the state charging fees that could have climbed to as high as $5,000-a-year for stores with high volumes of sales, said James Calvin, president of the New York Association of Convenience Stores.
The fee increases were designed to stop about 40 percent of the state's 24,000 licensed tobacconists from selling cigarettes in an effort to improve public health, he said.
"But that theory is all wet because most of the displaced smokers would merely shift their tobacco purchases to Indian reservations, the Internet and the black market, making things worse for small business, tax revenue and public health," Calvin said in a statement.
A spokesman for New York Governor David Paterson had no immediate comment.
The state's governors have for years failed to force Native American reservation stores to charge New York state taxes on sales of cigarettes and gasoline. The state claims it loses hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues as a result.
Non-reservation stores say they cannot compete with the lower prices the Native American stores can offer.
Sep 21, 2009
Rome woman charged with using stolen credit cards
A 29-year-old Rome woman is facing several charges after she allegedly used a stolen credit card to purchase cigarettes at Walmart earlier this month, New Hartford police said.
Scarlet Gies was charged Thursday with fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property and second-degree forgery, both felonies, as well as misdemeanor petit larceny, Officer Shane Yoxall said.
According to police, Gies entered the Walmart store in Consumer Square on Sept. 3 and attempted to purchase two carts of Newport cigarettes using three different credit cards, Yoxall said. Gies was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and a baseball cap.
After the first two credit cards were declined, Gies then used a third card to complete the transaction, Yoxall said. When Gies left the store, the Walmart employee followed Gies into the parking lot and wrote down her vehicle’s license plate number. The employee then reported the suspicious incident to New Hartford police.
Following a joint investigation by the New Hartford police, Rome police, and the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office, it was later determined that the credit card Gies used to buy the cigarettes had been stolen earlier that day from a vehicle in the outer district of Rome, Yoxall said.
Gies was arraigned and released, and she is due to appear in New Hartford Town Court on Oct. 1 to answer the charges.
Scarlet Gies was charged Thursday with fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property and second-degree forgery, both felonies, as well as misdemeanor petit larceny, Officer Shane Yoxall said.
According to police, Gies entered the Walmart store in Consumer Square on Sept. 3 and attempted to purchase two carts of Newport cigarettes using three different credit cards, Yoxall said. Gies was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and a baseball cap.
After the first two credit cards were declined, Gies then used a third card to complete the transaction, Yoxall said. When Gies left the store, the Walmart employee followed Gies into the parking lot and wrote down her vehicle’s license plate number. The employee then reported the suspicious incident to New Hartford police.
Following a joint investigation by the New Hartford police, Rome police, and the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office, it was later determined that the credit card Gies used to buy the cigarettes had been stolen earlier that day from a vehicle in the outer district of Rome, Yoxall said.
Gies was arraigned and released, and she is due to appear in New Hartford Town Court on Oct. 1 to answer the charges.
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