Tax evader stashed 147,000 cigarettes in lock-up storage in Leeds
A raid at a storage unit uncovered more than 147,000 illegal cigarettes and 8kg of rolling tobacco.
Zheer Saidi avoided an immediate jail sentence at Leeds Crown Court this week after admitting two counts of fraudulent evasion of duty.
Prosecutor Denise Fitzpatrick said Saidi took a lease on a unit at Ready Steady Store on Roseville Road, Harehills, in November 2024.
He and other men were seen to take large boxes of items into the unit in the following days.
On December 4, 2024, officers and sniffer dogs from His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) raided the unit.
They found 147,360 cigarettes from 13 different brands, and 8kg of Amber Leaf tobacco.
No duty had been paid on any of the items, which would have come to £70,557.
Saidi, of Borrough Avenue, Roundhay, was arrested at home and packaging similar to that in the storage unit was found in his back garden.
The 23-year-old then gave a no-comment interview at the police station.
Mitigating, Soheil Khan said that his operation was “quickly thwarted” and that his best mitigation were his early guilty pleas and lack of previous convictions.
He said Saidi had a “modest job”and lived with his wife who was expecting their first child.
Judge Neil Clark gave him an 11-month sentence, suspended for 18 months, ordered him to complete 220 hours of unpaid work and told to pay £800 court costs.
The cigarettes and tobacco was ordered to be destroyed.