Cigarette smuggler given final warning

2:37pm Wednesday 9th January 2008

A CIGARETTE smuggler has been told he will be locked up if he ever tries again to bring huge amounts of tobacco into the UK.

Christopher Kellett had received eight warnings from customs officials about duty evasion before was finally arrested last summer.

The Darlington man made three overseas trips in five months and brought back a total of 64,000 cigarettes and 30 kilos of hand-rolling tobacco.

Teesside Crown Court heard today that the jobless 38-year-old had tried to evade payable duty amounting to more than £11,650 with his hauls.

Adrian Strong, prosecuting, told the court that between May 2004 and December 2006, Kellett had been stopped by airport officials six times.

On each occasion, his tobacco was either confiscated or abandoned and Kellett was warned about the amount he could bring into the country.

But in February last year, he again tried to evade duty on 20,000 cigaretts when he flew into Humberside Airport from Alicante, Spain.

Kellett had flown out the previous day and tried to return through the "green channel" with a holdall containing just 12kg of rolling tobacco.

Customs officials later found two suitcases bearing Kellett's name abandoned on the carousel containing the cigarettes.

The following month, Kellett was stopped at Newcastle Airport after a flight from Alicante with 24,000 cigarettes and six kilos of tobacco.

Mr Strong said he was again warned about the regulations and had his goods seized before being allowed to continue home.

But on June 8, Kellett was arrested trying to smuggle 20,000 cigarettes and 12kg of rolling tobacco through Durham Tees Valley Airport from Ibiza.

After being stopped, Kellett told investigators he bought cartons of cigarettes for about £17 and hoped to sell them for £35.

Judge Guy Whitburn, QC, imposed a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, with probation service supervision.

He told Kellett: "You can't cock a snook at customs and excise in the way you have done over the last few years and get away with it."

Kieran Rainey, mitigating, told the court that Kellett was on benefits and saw the enterprise as a legitimate way of making money.

Mr Rainey said his client - who he described as having "a thinking deficit" - has since realised how serious his offending was.

Judge Whitburn told Kellett: "Whether or not you have any thinking deficit, make this connecttion - do it again and you go inside."

Kellett, of Wimbledon Close, admitted three counts of fraudulently evading duty.

The judge added: "If he does this again in the course of the next two years, he comes back before me and he knows exactly where he is going to go - and it won't be through the green channel."