A 43-year-old man was scheduled to appear in the Manukau District Court today for importing 927,000 uncustomed cigarettes and evading NZ$1.4 million in taxes.

Customs arrested the defendant on Monday 25 August following search warrants conducted with assistance from New Zealand Police at a range of Auckland addresses, including storage facilities and residences. He is charged with importing prohibited goods, defrauding Customs revenue, and possession of uncustomed goods.

Earlier in August, Customs officers at the Auckland Processing Centre intercepted two separate consignments from China: the first containing 340,000 uncustomed cigarettes of the Chinese brand ‘Double Happiness’, and the second containing 587,000 cigarettes of the same brand. The consignments were declared as clothes.

Investigations established that neither the defendant nor the company that was listed as the consignee held an import permit for the cigarettes, making this a prohibited importation. The revenue allegedly evaded by these imports amounted to approximately NZ$1.4 million.

In addition to this, a commercial quantity of uncustomed cigarettes was found during yesterday’s search warrants.

Chief Customs Officer Fraud and Prohibition, Nigel Barnes, says Customs is seeing an increase in large seizures of tobacco through multiple methods, including air, sea, and mail.

“Customs is getting good successes at the Auckland Processing Centre – the new international mail processing facility – thanks to the systems and technology we’re using to inspect international parcels and goods before they’re released to the importers.

“Anyone involved in cigarette smuggling should know there’s a very good chance that they will be caught and face the consequences,” says Mr Barnes.

People who have suspicions about smuggling can contact Customs confidentially on 0800 WE PROTECT (0800 937 768) or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

© Scoop Media