Moonshine vodka and tobacco gang cost Treasury
A gang of bootleggers were jailed after their moonshine vodka and tobacco business dodged more than £10million in tax.
Their vodka factory in Dalston, east London, staffed by a Polish workforce, was so successful – churning out 24 bottles a minute – they set up a tobacco farm in Enfield, north London, which could produce 100 pouches of counterfeit Golden Virginia in a minute.
The tobacco farm was busted before the product hit the streets – but forged leaf, ready for sale and worth £700,000, was seized.
‘These offences involved a huge attack on the exchequer and involved a potential risk to the public health,’ said prosecutors at Southwark crown court. Ringleader, 60-year-old Harvey Conroy, from Totteridge, north London, was jailed for 12 years. His five accomplices received between six and 11 years each after admitting conspiracy to cheat Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.