Shoe box cigarette smuggler gets community payback order

Glasgow Sheriff Court heard the plan was to smuggle the cigarettes out of China in shoe boxes

A woman who smuggled cigarettes into Scotland disguised as shoes to avoid paying duty has been ordered to do 190 hours of unpaid work.

Xiao Guo ordered almost 20,000 cigarettes from China but her parcels were intercepted at the sorting office by HMRC after they received a tip-off.

Guo, 32, from Glasgow, evaded £6,390 in cigarette duty between 14 February and 2 March last year.

She was given a community payback order at Glasgow Sheriff Court.

Five packages addressed to Guo's home were examined at the depot in February last year - with labels that indicated the package contained shoes.

Confiscated and destroyed

Instead thousands of Marlboro Gold cigarettes were found inside. Further packages with cigarettes including Chinese brands were stopped and opened.

HMRC searched Guo's home in Calton, Glasgow, that month and discovered a Royal Mail box similar to those at the sorting office, as well as a book with figures and numbers and postal references.

All of the cigarettes found were confiscated from Guo to be destroyed.

The court heard in December 2016 an anonymous letter was received at the Parcelforce depot in Cambuslang, South Lanarkshire.

It claimed Guo used her home to receive cigarettes by post form China and was not paying any excise duty on them.

Procurator fiscal John Bedford said: "Parcelforce staff advised HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) of the anonymous letter."

Make a living

During her police interview, Guo said people in China send parcels to people in the UK and claimed a friend from China put her in contact with someone.

Almost 20,000 cigarettes came from China illegally

Mr Bedford said: "When asked how often she ordered cigarettes, the accused stated she had only ordered twice and then it was investigated.

"She added that she did not order a specific amount of cigarettes, she only received what they sent."

Guo was asked: "Do you make a living from selling these cigarettes?" and replied "Don't want to answer."

She also said "don't know" when asked if she knew there was tax to be paid on cigarettes in the UK.

More cigarettes were intercepted at the depot, following Guo's interview.

The total number of cigarettes recovered with no duty paid was 19,500 - made up of 7,380 Marlboro Gold and 12,120 of Chinese brands.