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Gloucestershire Business News

Tax evasion and 'extremely serious offences' leaves traders facing jail

Two men involved in the illicit tobacco trade in Gloucester and the Manchester area are facing jail after a HMRC sting.

After over four and half hours of deliberation a jury at Gloucester crown court convicted Kurdish men Dana Kadir, 41, of Castle Rise, Runcorn and Soleman Hossein, 35, of Ilminster, Rochdale of dealing with cigarettes and tobacco with fraudulent intent between 1st June 2015 and 30th September 2016.

Kadir was found guilty by a unanimous verdict, and Hossein by a majority of 10 to two.

A third man, Soran Shapoli, 35, of Claymoor Flora Street, Oldham, was found not guilty.

Two other men, Howkar Hassan, 33, of Willow Drive, Sheffield and Araz Rasul, 37, of Southgate Street, Gloucester, pleaded guilty to the allegation ahead of the trial.

The trial of Kadir, Hossein and Shapoli has been running for 10 days.

Prosecutor Derek Perry told the jury the charges revolved around nearly a quarter of a ton of tobacco and 80,000 cigarettes on which excise duty had not been paid.

The criminal enterprise was centred on both Gloucester and Oldham in Greater Manchester.

There were four occasions when tobacco products were seized by HMRC between May 2015 and September 2016, said Mr Perry.

The duty lost to the Treasury was 'nearly £98,000'.

"Unpaid revenue is just one side of the coin," the prosecutor said. "The profit to those selling it is another."

On 2nd Nov 2015 Hasan was arrested for an unrelated matter and police found a set of keys in his possession.

They searched an address at Scott House in Southgate Street, Gloucester and found 'two black bin liners filled with Golden Virginia tobacco,' said the prosecutor.

Mr Perry said the packets had 'foreign markings' that the police believed to be either Dutch or German.

"They were not there long when the door they had shut behind them opened," the prosecutor continued.

"Mr Rasul, who also pleaded guilty, came in having used his own key."

The officers spoke to him and searched him, and found a further three packets of Russian 'Pect' brand cigarettes.

Further bin bags of tobacco and cigarettes were also found.

During that search 116.2 kg of hand rolling tobacco and 8,000 cigarettes seized by the police who notified HMRC.

"On May 11, 2016, a traffic officer on the M5 stopped a Volkswagen Touran," said Mr Perry. "Shapoli was driving and the only passenger was Rasul. However, Kadir was the only person insured to drive it.

There was a strong tobacco smell in the van - and under a blanket "tobacco with foreign markings" was found.

Some of Kadir's 'personal effects' such as a wallet, a mobile phone and bank statement were found in the Volkswagen.

"Mr Shapoli told the police in a prepared statement he had been asked to drive from Oldham to Gloucester to pick up some goods," Mr Perry said, "and had nothing to do with loading the vehicle.

"That is the only day he appears on our radar."

The investigation continued, he said, and on June 7, 2016 HMRC, attended a shop at 103 Yorkshire Street, Oldham.

"Working behind the counter was Mr Rasul," Mr Perry said. "There were people queuing up outside the store.

"Normal tobacco was sold from a roll top display, but other tobacco was being sold under the counter.

"The amount seized that day was 800g or about 20 pouches, and 1,700 cigarettes."

On September 29, 2016, HMRC officers raided another address in The Lows, Oldham, the prosecutor said.

"That was the home address of Mr Kadir," he claimed. "He had previously been living in Gloucester.

"By then, following the finding of his statement. HMRC got hold of his bank records.

"Large amounts of cash credits were seen," he said. "This against the backdrop of receiving state benefits."

"This we say gives strength to being involved in something illicit in the tobacco trade," the prosecutor alleged.

"There was a significant amount of non excise cigarettes in Mr Kadir's room at that property," he claimed. "Another room had Mr Rasul's paperwork."

Mr Perry said that investigators found 'two vans near the property' in Oldham.

"One on the drive," he said, "and one out on the road.

"They gained entry to those vans," the prosecutor said.

"One had been reinforced. They had to commandeer an angle grinder from nearby workers.

"It was chockablock with illicit tobacco," he said. "112.5kg of hand rolling 68,300 cigarettes £46,000 unpaid duty.

"Mr Hossain was the registered keeper of one of the vans," Mr Perry told the jury.

"But he said he had sold it, but the V5 had not been processed yet.

"There is a short period of time in the spring of 2016, with Mr Kadir's card travelling to Kent. "There is a transaction with DFDS ferries. Transactions in Calais and in a tobacco warehouse just over Belgian border," he told the jury.

Mr Shapoli told the jury he was asked to move boxes of blankets and did not look to check that was actually what the contained.

The jury accepted his account and he was acquitted of any involvement in the crime.

Kadir told the jury that he was a used car salesmen and that accounted for the money moving in and out of his bank accounts.

He said that he stopped in the Belgium duty free shop to purchase items for himself, and it was argued that the amount bought on his card was 'inconsistent' with the allegations brought by the prosecution.

Hossain denied any knowing wrong doing at all, and told the jury he was not involved in the illicit trade of tobacco.

It was argued on the men's behalf that the Kurdish community in the UK was a small one, and connections between members of the diaspora were likely and not evidence of criminal arrangements.

However the jury rejected Kadir and Hossain's accounts, and convicted them.

The case was adjourned to the new year for sentence and Judge Michael Harington warned the men: "These are extremely serious offences, and a custodial sentence is almost inevitable."

The next hearing was fixed for February 4 and both men were

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