A 50-year-old Nigerian man named Samuel Onyemenam has been caught trying to smuggle over 83,000 cigarettes into Newcastle International Airport.
Onyemenam was stopped by Border Force officers while carrying luggage upon his arrival from Nigeria via Germany last November. Upon examining three of his suitcases, officers found that two of them contained 83,600 cigarettes, carrying a duty worth £28,000. Onyemenam was arrested and subsequently pleaded guilty to fraudulently evading duty when he appeared in court this week.
"He had
three suitcases with him," said Rob Lawson, prosecuting. "Border
Force officers informed him that they were going to X-ray his suitcases and two
were found to contain a large quantity of cigarettes, 83,600. The duty evaded
was £28,530.17."
Onyemenam
claimed that he was merely transporting the cigarettes for his cousin and had
made no financial gain from the scheme. His defense lawyer, Paul Kennedy,
stated that Onyemenam had no prior convictions and stood by his claim of
transporting the cigarettes for his cousin as an opportunistic, one-off
offense.
However,
District Judge Jayne Bryan did not accept Onyemenam's claims, stating, "I
don't accept what you're saying at face value. You're going to have to give
evidence about what you're claiming. It's what we call a trial of issue and it
will decide on what basis you will be sentenced on. You will have unconditional
bail to return to this court on that date and time. If you don't attend, a
warrant could be issued for your arrest."
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