Smuggler hid four million ciggies

A Scot has been jailed for three-and-a-half years for attempting to smuggle more than four million cigarettes into the country hidden in biscuit boxes.

Alexander Kindred, 55, from Perth, was arrested after HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) officers intercepted him at Dover docks on 26 April last year.

He claimed the biscuit crates had been loaded into the vehicle in Germany.

Maidstone Crown Court heard that the revenue evaded on the tobacco amounted to £580,000.

HMRC spokesman Bob Gaiger said: "We will not hesitate to take action against those dealing in smuggled goods and evading duty.

"This sentence will serve as a deterrent to others. Selling smuggled tobacco products is not a harmless tax fiddle - it cheats the government of revenue, which can be used to fund vital public services, and jeopardises the trading of law-abiding tobacconists."