Wakefield businessman jailed for smuggling £100,000 of rifle scopes to China
A businessman who smuggled more than £102,000 worth of thermal-imaging rifle scopes to China has been jailed.
Steven Gates, who runs a piping company, was caught twice attempting to mail the night-vision gun equipment to a man in Hong Kong.
He admitted charges of exporting prohibited goods and knowingly mis-describing mailed goods. The 47-year-old was jailed for more than two years at Leeds Crown Court this morning.
The court heard that he came to the attention of HMRC in November 2021 when a suspicious package was halted by couriers FedEx.
Labelled “night vision”, it was found to contain two Pulsar Trail LRF thermal-imaging scopes, to be attached to hunting rifles. They are not illegal in the UK, but they are illegal to export.
The package was signed by Gates’ wife and was bound for China, with the sender’s address given as Howden Way, Eastmoor, Wakefield, which is the Gates’ address.
The value had been put at £200, when the scopes’ combined value was actually worth £5,683.
A notice of seizure was sent to Gates along with a warning letter, prosecutor Nancy Udom said.
But on April 21, 2023 another parcel was intercepted. It was labelled as a digital camera worth £1,750 but it contained five of the scopes worth £19,350.
Gates was arrested on May 17, 2023, his home searched and phone seized. He told officers that he did realise he required a licence, despite the previous warning letter.
He had bought the sights from a gun business in Leeds, which also clearly stated the equipment was not for export.
Following a forensic investigation it was found that he had sent 10 packages, made up of 26 gun-sight items worth a total of £102,000.
They also found conversations between Gates with the recipient in which they discussed removing packaging to avoid detection.
Gates even said at one point: “If customs find out, I’m a dead man.”
Mitigating, Maria Brannan said he had lived a “blameless” life with no previous convictions and ran his own piping business.
She said he was not involved in the export of the gun parts for profit, but for friendship, that the recipient had a shared interest in hunting.
Ms Brannan added that the telescopic sights are readily available to buy in the UK and can be purchased without a licence.
She conceded that Gates became “hopelessly out of his depth” and said “to some extent he was groomed” and made just a few hundred pounds.
Judge Neil Clark told him it was “common sense” that the scopes were not to be exported and said: “It’s obvious you must have known.”
He was jailed for 25 months, and said it must be served immediately as a warning to others. Gates’ family could be heard crying in the public gallery as he was led away.
Edwige Hill, Deputy Director in HMRC’S Fraud Investigation Service, said: “This was a calculated and persistent attempt to undermine and circumvent the strict licensing regime that is in place to protect the UK.
“This case sends a clear warning to others that if you try and send military items without an export licence, we will catch you and you will face justice.”