A SHOP owner caught with almost 250,000 illicit cigarettes at his Derby home has been handed a suspended jail sentence.
Officers from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs also discovered 288 litres of illegal spirits, 189 litres of beer and 52 litres of wine when they raided the Chaddesden home of Redas Norgaila.
Police sniffer dogs discovered a further 3,360 illicit cigarettes and rolling tobacco hidden behind a wall-mounted heater at the 44-year-old's Balticum Off License, in Becket Street in a separate visit.
Derby Crown Court was told his three-bedroomed house, in Sussex Circus, was "crammed with smuggled alcohol, cigarettes and tobacco."
Norgaila pleaded guilty to five charges of excise evasion and one charge of using counterfeit UK duty stamps contrary to the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979.
Stuart Taylor, assistant director of criminal investigation at HMRC, said: "Trading in smuggled goods is tax evasion and a criminal offence.
"If you are caught, you will not only have your good seized but you may also face prosecution and investigation of your personal or business finances, as in this case.
"In addition to the sentence, Norgaila faces a confiscation hearing under Proceeds of Crime legislation to reclaim his criminal profits."
Norgaila first came to the attention of HMRC during an inspection of his Balticum Off-License in November 2012.
During that visit a sniffer dog discovered the illegal cigarettes and hand rolling tobacco concealed behind the heater.
HMRC officers then searched his home in Chaddesden and found the hoard of smuggled tobacco and alcohol in the kitchen, lounge, bedroom and attic.
In addition officers seized counterfeit UK duty stamps along with bottles of spirits found soaking in a tub as Norgaila attempted to change their labels.
In total his hearing heard how he attempted to evade £59,000 in UK excise and duty.
240,000 illicit cigarettes were discovered at the house along with 9.8gms of hand rolling tobacco, the spirits, beer and wine.
All of the alcohol had foreign excise duty marks.
Norgaila was sentenced to 10 months in jail, suspended for 18 months yesterday (June 10) at Derby Crown Court, was ordered to pay £100 prosecution costs and told to do 250 hours unpaid work.
In March this year raids on shops in Normanton and Pear Tree uncovered "a substantial amount" of illicit cigarettes and counterfeit booze.
That operation, led by Derby City Council's trading standards team, saw more than a dozen shops visited and illegal stock taken from three of them.
Stores visited include ones in Normanton Road, St Thomas Road, Almond Street, Upper Dale Road, Pear Tree Road and Cambridge Street.
Iain Watkins is group communications manager for Imperial Tobacco Ltd, which has its UK manufacturing site in Nottingham.
He said: "It is always pleasing to see success in the on-going fight against the illicit tobacco trade.
"Up to date research in the East Midlands shows that 27% of adult smokers regularly source their tobacco from people in pubs, at car boot sales and from markets stalls where packs are sold at half the cost of legitimate brands in shops.
"The illicit trade costs HM Treasury £2.9bn a year in lost taxes and the livelihoods of local shopkeepers are being seriously threatened as they each lose around £40,000 turnover per year tpo the criminals whose activities fund organised crime and terrorism."
Mr Taylor said: "Anyone with information about the storage or sale of smuggled tobacco or alcohol in Derbyshire should contact the Customs hotline on 0800 595000."
