Man charged over illegal tobacco haul at Rosyth dockyard

A man has been charged with fraud after customs officers allegedly found a £500,000 tobacco haul in Rosyth.

Rosyth Dockyard in Fife. Picture: Jane Barlow

Border Force intercepted and searched a trailer, which arrived at the port of Rosythlast Tuesday from Belgium.

Illicit cigarettes were discovered and the case was referred to HM Revenue and Customs for investigation.

The seizure was part of an ongoing HMRC investigation.

Around one million cigarettes have been seized, with an estimated duty loss of £500,000.

The trailer has been seized and a 48-year-old Polish man has been arrested and charged with the evasion of excise duty. Enquiries are ongoing.

The Polish national has been denied entry to the United Kingdom and will be returned to the country he travelled from.

Police have seized more than 850kg of the most serious drugs from dealers in Scotland last year.

Herbal cannabis and cannabis resin made up more than half of the bulk (669kg), followed by 120kg of cocaine and 54kg of heroin.

Government statistics for 2016/17 show Police Scotland seized more than 18,000 cannabis plants, about 8,600 ecstasy-type tablets and 2.2 million Class C drugs such as diazepam.

The quantity of Class A and B drugs seized was down from more than 1.2 tonnes in 2015/16, but the number of individual seizures of cocaine, ecstasy, heroin and cannabis increased from 3,376 to 3,399 between the years.

The National Statistics publication said: “The quantity of drugs seized can fluctuate considerably each year and does not necessarily move in line with the number of seizures made.

“Whilst most drug seizures consist of relatively small quantities (usually possession-related crimes), annual quantities of drugs seized can be greatly influenced by a small number of large seizures (usually from supply-related crimes).”

Analysis of records between 2014 and 2017 found 49 per cent of drug seizures took place in the street, with 28 per cent in a house or garden.

Drug seizures are more common over the weekend, with Fridays and Saturdays accounting for 20 per cent and 19 per cent over the past three years.

The vast majority (86 per cent) of offenders were male with the average age of 29.