Three admit major plot to smuggle cigarettes and tobacco into Scotland

Three men have admitted being involved in a massive bootleg cigarette and tobacco scam.

Damian Rapacki, 36, Michael Zynda, 40, and Marek Nadzieja, 31, pleaded guilty on Tuesday with the indictment listing different locations in Scotland, England, Austria and the Netherlands.

The men were charged with being involved in serious organised crime between June 2019 and November 2020.

Prosecutors had claimed the group defrauded customs of £36m of duty as a result of the crime.

However, not guilty pleas were accepted for that charge by the Crown at the High Court in Glasgow.

The charge they did admit to states that a warehouse and storage units – one based in Glasgow’s East End – were leased to store and hide the bootleg cigarettes.

The charge goes on to say Rapacki made arrangements for the bulk sale of counterfeit cigarettes.

Zynda allowed his car and various motor vehicles rented by him to be used in the transfer of cigarettes.

He also leased a storage unit based in Essex for the purposes of storing cardboard boxes used to transport counterfeit cigarettes.

It was also used for cardboard boxes used to transport and conceal cash from the sale of cigarettes.

Rapacki and Zynda arranged the delivery of cigarettes from mainland Europe to an address in Glasgow.

Zynda and Nadzieja transferred the cigarettes from Glasgow to The Storage Zone in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire.

The cigarettes were moved again from the Storage Zone to various vehicles for their onward travel.

Zynda lastly arranged for the collection of cash obtained from the sale of the cigarettes from the Glasgow address.

The three men – whose addresses are across Lanarkshire – were remanded in custody pending background reports and sentencing next month.

Judge Lord Arthurson said: “The charge which you have pleaded guilty to is an extremely serious one.

“A significant custodial sentence is inevitable.

“Quite properly, bail has been revoked.”