Tobacco.org

Fake cigarette smuggler coughs up £185,000 

FAKE fags importer Pradeep Bahanda has paid back his ill-gotten gains.

The 50-year-old, who planned to flog the phoneys from a fleet of ice cream vans, has avoided a fresh jail term by coughing up the £185,000.

A court ruled that was the amount he pocketed from his scam, which saw more than 980,000 cigarettes sneaked into the UK from Germany.

Bahanda and his gang hid their cargo in secret compartments of a delivery van, which zig-zagged its way across Europe, ending up in Cramlington, Northumberland.

Once there, they unloaded the tobacco into a factory owned by brothers Franco and Antonio Gregorio, but it was under surveillance and customs officers swooped.

Jump to full article »