Glasgow man mastermind behind £1.5m tobacco smuggling gang

A Glasgow man who led a £1.5m tobacco smuggling gang has been jailed for more than seven years.

Yuanjian Zhou of Charles Street, masterminded the operation, which smuggled and processed 5.8 tonnes of illegal tobacco over a three year period rom March 2018.

The 48-year-old, along with Bryan Kim, 42, and Faruque Hussein, 54, smuggled raw tobacco into the UK, processed it into hand-rolling tobacco, and sold it in counterfeit packaging.

Zhou’s wife Ruifang Zhang, 45, laundered the cash and used it to pay the deposit on a house and monthly mortgage payments.

5.8 tonnes of illegal tobacco were smuggled over a three year period rom March 2018. HMRC

She also used fake details to apply for the mortgage.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) officers searched residential properties and storage units across Luton, Leicester and Nottingham and uncovered the haul, worth nearly £1.5m in evaded duty.

Zhou, Kim and Hussein were charged with cheating the public revenue.

Yuanjian Zhou and his wife Ruifang Zhang. HMRC

Zhang was charged with money laundering and mortgage fraud worth £270,000.

They all denied their roles but were convicted in December 2024 after a four-week trial at Luton Crown Court.

Peter Vivian, operational lead in the Fraud Investigation Service at HMRC, said: “The trade in illicit cigarettes and tobacco damages funding for essential public services and undermines legitimate traders including small, independent shops that serve local communities.

“We continue to work closely with our partners to relentlessly pursue the determined minority who refuse to play by the rules.

“We urge anyone with information about the smuggling, distribution or sale of illicit tobacco to report it online.”