The ringleaders behind a fake vodka and illegal cigarettes gang have been jailed after a tax dodging investigation.
Investigators from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) found the four strong gang had been selling hundreds of thousands of untaxed cigarettes and bottling fake vodka from an industrial unit in Bootle.
HMRC said the scheme cheated taxpayers out of more than £415,000.
The leaders of the plot, John Barker, 50, of Pete Best Drive, West Derby ; and Anthony Hargreaves, 48, of Carnatic Close, Mossley Hill , were each jailed for 44 months at Liverpool Crown Court after admitting evading excise duty on tobacco and alcohol.
A HMRC spokesman said Barker and Hargreaves were seen on numerous occasions between December 2016 and March 2017 meeting customers at car parks across Bootle and Aintree .
They would then drive the customers’ vehicles to the industrial unit in Heysham Road, Bootle , load them with the illegal Mayfair branded cigarettes, and return the vehicle to the customer.
A total of 1,965 litres of illegal alcohol was seized at the bottling plant, which was dismantled by HMRC officers after the premises was raided on 19 July 2017.
This included 965 one-litre bottles which had been labelled No 1 Imperial Vodka Blue.
Paul Kewley, 57, of Bowring Park Road, Childwall , and Ian Raywood, 46, of Carisbrooke Road, Walton , were also sentenced to 16 months, suspended for two years, for their involvement in producing the counterfeit vodka.
Tony Capon, Assistant Director, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said: " These men were stealing taxes which should have been funding public services and were undermining the honest majority of legitimate retailers in the Liverpool area.
"The illicit trade in alcohol and tobacco is worth £2.7bn a year – that’s money needed for public services, such as schools and hospitals. The money stolen in this case is the equivalent to the wages of 18 newly qualified nurses for a year.
"I urge anyone with information about tax fraud to report it to HMRC online or call our Fraud Hotline on 0800 788 887."
Confiscation proceedings to recover the stolen duty are ongoing.
