Ex-policeman jailed for smuggling

Adams quit the police force two months after he was caught

An ex-Kent police officer has been jailed for six months after he admitted smuggling thousands of pounds worth of cigarettes into the UK tax free.

Boyd Adams, 54, was a custody sergeant in Folkestone when he was caught trying to bring contraband goods from France via the Channel Tunnel in January 2003.

A customs check found he had 20,000 cigarettes and 40kg of rolling tobacco.

Maidstone Crown Court was told Adams, from Ham Street, near Ashford, admitted 139 smuggling trips over six years.

The guideline limit for tobacco brought into the UK for personal consumption stands at 3,200 cigarettes.

At a court hearing last October, Adams pleaded guilty to evading excise duty of £4,100 when he was stopped in Calais and failing to pay tax of £7,000 in the 18 months up to that time.

Some of the pouches of tobacco found by police at Adam's home

It heard countless cheques had been paid into his bank account with the tobacco sold to other police officers.

They were condemned by Judge Keith Simpson for wantonly indulging in illicit activities.

Adams was ordered to pay £117,000 to cover the amount he made from smuggling the tobacco.

The judge told him: "You were a paid public servant who had the sworn duty of upholding the law, but you were doing the exact opposite."

The married father-of-three resigned from the police force, after nearly two decades of service, two months after he was caught.