A SPANISH lorry driver who smuggled millions of cigarettes through Poole ferry port has been jailed for six years.
Manuel Goyeneche Marichalar, 42, of Navarra, Spain, was found guilty on two counts of fraudulently evading duty at Bournemouth Crown Court.
Customs officers found 3.8 million cigarettes hidden in a batch of toilet paper when the vehicle arrived on a ferry from Cherbourg on May 25.
An investigation then revealed that 3.2 million cigarettes had been found under a consignment of cardboard when officers stopped a lorry driven by Marichalar near Doncaster on July 9, 2003.
Total duty evaded on the cigarettes was around £838,537.
David Holt, deputy head of customs operations in the South, said: "This sentence sends out a very clear warning to all those who believe tobacco smuggling is only a harmless tax fiddle."
Sentencing Marichalar to three years' imprisonment on each count, Recorder Douglas Field said: "You are a small cog in a large and sophisticated machine."
First published: October 29
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