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Monday, 14 May 2007 |
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A Polish car mechanic has been jailed for eight months for attempting to smuggle into the UK 29,000 Glen's Vodka labels bearing fake UK duty stamps.
 The tax evaded would have equated to about £150,000. This is the first smuggling case in the UK involving forged duty stamps.
Piotr Seredynski, of Slask, Poland, was stopped by HM Revenue and Customs officers at Dover's eastern docks after arriving on a ferry from France.
Customs officers found about 29,000 of the labels in his Polish-registered BMW.
From October 2006 all spirits for sale in the UK were required to bear a duty stamp as part of the Government strategy to tackle alcohol fraud.
Chris Ballard, of HM Revenue and Customs, said: "This type of tax fraud is perpetrated by organised criminal gangs.
"Buying illegal spirits helps fund their other activities.
"Honest traders need to be able to operate on a level playing field and not be undercut by those flouting the law."
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