by Anna White

awhite@thekmgroup.co.uk

A freight distribution manager has been jailed for attempting to smuggle more than 14 million cigarettes.

Barry Wood, of Highland Road, Maidstone, (pictured left) was sentenced on Thursday to six years and six months in prison.

The 45-year-old was arrested in April after HM Revenue and Customs discovered millions of cigarettes hidden in refrigerated lorries carrying fruit and vegetables, on two seperate occassions.

The loads were said to be worth about £2.5million in duty and VAT.

Wood was found guilty of two counts of evading excise duty on Tuesday, October 2.

The first lorry was stopped at Dover docks in the early hours of Tuesday, July 20, 2010.

The documents with the vehicle stated that it contained fruit and vegetables, but officers found a large number of crudely concealed cardboard boxes containing more than six million illicit cigarettes.

A second smuggling attempt was foiled four months later, when a lorry driven by Romulus Boca was searched at the same port and over eight million cigarettes were found.

Boca was arrested and charged with smuggling offences.

He absconded abroad while on bail but was found and extradited back to the UK.

The Romanian national will spend three years behind bars.

Before sentencing the two men, Judge Charles Byers said: "You cheated every honest taxpayer in the UK and in particular small businesses in the Kent area.

"The sentence must punish you to reflect the seriousness of the crime and send a clear message that these offences will be dealt with severely by the courts.”

Peter Hollier, HMRC Assistant Director of Criminal Investigation, said: “These men used their positions in a transport company, and their knowledge of the freight industry, to set up this smuggling operation.

"They are criminals out to make a profit without concern for the consequences for the livelihoods of honest shopkeepers.

“The sentences will send out a clear message to those attempting to avoid paying their dues that the penalties can be severe."