A CHINESE man from Harrow will face magistrates in East Anglia in connection with the alleged smuggling of fake cigarettes by sea.
Xiong Guan, 33, of Dominion Parade, Station Road, was charged alongside Xiu Ling Tan, a 44-year-old Briton of Wood Green, north London, on Friday with conspiracy to evade excise duty and VAT between April 2010 and February 2011.
It concerns the discovery of more than 22 million counterfeit cigarettes and 25 tonnes of illicit hand rolling tobacco at the Port of Felixstowe in Suffolk. Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customes (HMRC) estimates the duty evaded on these imported goods as in excess of £12 million.
Guan and Tan were given police bail to appear before Ipswich Magistrates’ Court in Ipswich, Suffolk, on March 20.
