Mohammed Kattany, who was the director of Unique Hairdressers in Bramhall, hid smuggled fruit-flavoured tobacco in freight imports from Dubai, postal parcels, and his own luggage. He was sentenced alongside his accomplice, Ahmed Al-Salaima, who owned Snipz hairdressers in Withington.

The pair were arrested in July 2013, after they were linked by HMRC investigators to several seizures of illegal tobacco at the port of Felixstowe, Heathrow airport and Manchester airport by UK Border Force (BF). The smuggling attempts were all traced back to companies or addresses associated with the men.

Both men were also linked to a third company Rawad Trading set up by Kattany which was named as the importer on freight consignments for the smuggling attempts. Rawad Trading was based at the same address as Snipz Hairdressers on Wilmslow Road, which HMRC investigators said was used as a delivery address because it provided a car park which could be used to swap consignments into smaller vehicles for distribution.

Customs paperwork on the consignments and parcels falsely described the smuggled tobacco as cleaning fragrances, clothing, tablecloths, kitchen products and bathroom cleaners. HMRC put the total UK duty and VAT evasion on all of the seized tobacco products is £450,000.

Kattany and Al-Salaima were each jailed for two years at Manchester Crown Court for tax evasion on the tobacco products.

Sandra Smith, assistant director, fraud investigation service, HMRC, said: ‘These determined smugglers used flimsy excuses to blame others for the hidden tobacco but all the evidence led directly to them. Nearly three tons of illegal tobacco were intercepted before making it to the streets of Manchester thanks to the joint work of HMRC and BF. This was a serious attempt to steal hundreds of thousands of pounds from the public purse and undermine local businesses.’