A man has appeared in court charged with smuggling 4.6 million cigarettes into Newhaven Ferry Port.
Alain Corominas Pons, 44, is charged with evading around £714,000 in duty tax when the illicit load was smuggled into the UK four years ago.
Corominas Pons, a Spanish lorry driver, appeared at Southampton Magistrates’ Court yesterday where he was remanded in custody until March 3 to appear at crown court.
The 4,620,000 Lambert and Butler brand cigarettes were discovered by HM Revenue & Customs officers in a lorry that arrived by ferry from Dieppe, France.
The cigarettes have been burned at a power station to fuel the National Grid.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here