A GARLIC smuggler has caused a stink by going on the run before he was due to be put in prison.

Murugasan Natarajan, 57, who lives in West Drayton, managed to evade £2million in customs duty while bringing Chinese garlic into the country.

Natarajan, who owns the Southall-based Perfect Imports & Exports, was investigated along with his assistant, Lakshmi Suresh, 28, by officers from HM Revenue and Customs.

He claimed he was importing ginger, but investigators found that the containers used were transported at the wrong temperature.

Customs officers found more than 7,000kg of garlic. Investigators later checked shipping records and discovered that imports of garlic had stopped but importations of fresh ginger – which are free of duty – had increased five-fold.

Further checks showed that the temperature in the containers was too cold for ginger, but perfect for garlic.

During a search of Natarajan’s property, almost £150,000 in cash was seized under the proceeds of crime act.

Sentencing, Judge Worsley QC said Natarajan had played a leading role from the outset, describing the fraud as being ‘sophisticated, persistent and prolonged’. Natarajan was arrested in April 2011 and was tried in his absence after failing to surrender to bail.

A jury convicted him at the Old Bailey on Friday last week and he is due to spend six years in prison.

Peter Millroy, assistant director of HMRC Criminal Investigation, said: "The penalty imposed on Natarajan is the longest sentence in the UK in recent years for the evasion of customs duty.

"Over 100 containers were identified where there were strong grounds to believe that the contents had either been understated or wrongly described. These rules are designed to protect legitimate businesses from unfair competition."

Anyone with any information of the whereabouts of Natarajan should contact HMRC’s Customs, Excise and VAT fraud hotline on 0800 595 000.