Cigarette smugglers George Blackburn and Naythen Smith have been jailed

by Keith Hunt

Two truck drivers have been jailed for smuggling almost six million cigarettes into the country and evading more than £1 million in excise duty.

George Blackburn, 47, was sentenced to three years and nine months and Naythen Smith, 46, to three years.

Blackburn, of Third Avenue, Eastchurch, Sheppey, and Smith, of Mangravet Avenue, Maidstone, admitted evading duty.

Haulage boss Jason Bunce, 48, of The Silvers, Broadstairs, and Derek Aston, 43, of Church Lane, Harrietsham, Maidstone, were acquitted after they denied the charge.

Valerie Charbit, prosecuting, said there was a ready black market for cheap tobacco and cigarettes brought into the country illegally.

“There is a loss to the Exchequer and, consequently, a loss to all of us,” she said. “Tax payable on cigarettes pays for many public services, including health care.”

A cargo container packed with cigarettes at Dover Docks

Maidstone Crown Court heard Smith drove a lorry to Belgium in January 2010, loaded the cigarettes and drove to an industrial estate near Verne.

Blackburn took another truck across the Channel and met up with Smith. The pair swapped trailers and Blackburn returned to the UK with the illicit cargo.

Miss Charbit said border agency officers stopped him at Dover Docks. His documents stated he was carrying 41 pallets of onions from Poland destined for Poole, Dorset.

“Instead of finding onions, the trailer contained several cardboard boxes containing Gold Classic cigarettes,” said the prosecutor. “There were no onions at all in the load.”

Nothing out of the ordinary was found in Smith’s lorry, in which Mr Aston was a passenger, and he was allowed to go.

The lorry was stopped by border officials at Dover Docks

Miss Charbit alleged there were links between the three men and Mr Bunce, who ran Connie International.

Smith’s role, she said, was to pick up the cigarettes and deliver them to Blackburn. Smith then acted as Blackburn’s minder as they returned to the UK.

Blackburn had previously been jailed for two-and-a-half years for smuggling drugs. He was jailed for seven years in 1996 for drug-dealing and nine years in 2002 for similar drugs offences.

Judge Charles Macdonald QC said there was an unknown “Mr Big” behind the smuggling operation. Below him was a transport organiser, and Blackburn and Smith were the drivers.