Scots man among gang convicted of £41m illegal cigarette smuggling scheme

A Scottish man is among a gang guilty of an illegal cigarette smuggling scheme worth over £41m.

Eleven men have been sentenced as part of a gang who smuggled 150 million illegal cigarettes, following a HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) surveillance operation.

HMRC investigators followed, photographed and recorded conversations between members of the Bolton-based gang between August 2017 and April 2018.

During the surveillance operation, HMRC seized more than 2.5 million cigarettes and nearly £1m in cash in planned vehicle stops.

The gang members, who operated out of business premises in Lancashire and Staffordshire, were seen taking part in deliveries, van swaps, and exchanges of boxes and bags.

The men were convicted of smuggling 150 million cigarettes based on observations of 15 deliveries between October 2017 and February 2018, with the duty evaded totalling £41,609,720.

Carl Coxon, from Gairloch in Ross-shire, was jailed for one year and ten months after pleading guilty to money laundering offences in February 2024.

HMRC investigators said the 65-year-old acted as a cash courier for the group.

All 11 men pleaded guilty to their roles in the fraud during hearings between 2023 and 2025.

Overall, five of the men were handed immediate sentences of more than ten years in jail, and another six received a further ten years of suspended sentences at Manchester Crown Court on Thursday.