Pair jailed for part in £50m alcohol duty fraud

Shakeel Awan and Imran Awan were found guilty of excise duty evasion last year (November 2012), together with their accomplice Michael Parker.

The men used a non-registered warehouse with a secret entrance, which was raided by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) officers in 2007 after a covert surveillance operation tracking the movement of criminal gangs and illegal alcohol from Essex to the North West.

The vodka, which was produced in Scotland, was – on paper - due to be exported to Belgium. Instead the consignment was diverted to a Rochdale warehouse that was not licensed for the storage of duty free goods.

Access was made through a ‘secret’ door in a shower cubicle from an adjacent warehouse and the revenue evaded on the Rochdale vodka was about £100,000.

Shakeel Awan was jailed for 21 months, Imran Awan for 14 months, while Parker was given an eight-month jail sentence suspended for 12 months plus a 200-hour community order.

Mike O’Grady, HMRC assistant director of criminal investigation, said: “These men have been linked to a much larger organised crime gang by evidence gathered during our investigation.

"Ultimately, the fraudsters diverted shipments of alcohol, produced in the UK and destined for export, in an attempt to evade over £50mn in excise duty. Despite their denials these three have been sentenced for their part in this wholesale fraud. The secret door in the shower cubicle was very telling evidence.”