Six men have been given prison sentences for evading more than £500,000 in unpaid tax by illegally importing shisha tobacco into the UK, following the largest-ever HMRC investigation into smuggled shisha.
Brothers Mahfouz Chowdhury and Sayyeduz Chowdhury from Camden in London were the ringleaders of the group, and arranged for more than 5.8 tonnes of the flavoured tobacco, worth around £3m, to be brought into the UK disguised as Arabian incense.
HMRC's investigation began in April 2012, after Border Force officers at Tilbury docks discovered 2.2 tonnes of shisha in a consignment of 2,200 packages from Dubai which all had false labels.
The consignment was destined for Sahar Lounge Ltd, which operates a shisha café in Kilburn, London. HMRC enquiries established that the brothers had arranged four similar importations from the United Arab Emirates in the previous six months, weighing 3.6 tonnes and brought in via Heathrow Airport and the port of Felixstowe.
The Chowdhury brothers, who are directors of the company, were arrested and their mobile phones analysed for evidence. The phones contained photographs of the tobacco being repackaged, and hundreds of text messages to other people involved in the smuggling and distribution of the tobacco.
These included Sunit Vekaria, who had paid Mahfouz Chowdhury more than £10,000 to buy shisha tobacco in Dubai, and Asadur Rahman, a co-director of Sahar Lounge Ltd. Rahman's mobile revealed texts discussing a 300kg importation to and from other gang members, Luthfur Rahman, Abdulah Al Mohammed Rafi and Mohbubur Rahman.
John Pointing, HMRC assistant director, criminal investigation, said: 'Led by the Chowdhury brothers, the gang looked to flood London streets with illegal shisha and pocket the taxes due.'
The six men appeared at the Old Bailey yesterday for sentencing. Mahfouz Chowdhury received a sentence of two years and four months and Sayyeduz Chowdhury will serve two years in prison. Both had already admitted conspiracy to evade excise duty on 5,892kg of tobacco.
Asadur Rahman, Luthfur Rahman, Abdulah Al Mohammed Rafi and Mohbubur Rahman had admitted conspiracy to evade excise duty on 300kg of tobacco at a previous hearing. All four were sentenced to 12 weeks in prison, suspended for two years, and ordered to carry out 150 hours of community service.
Two other men, Adel Al-Khazraji of Wembley and Sunit Vekaria of Harrow, are due to be sentenced on 1 November 2013.
