A plane passenger has avoided jail after being caught smuggling 91,000 cigarettes into Newcastle Airport.
Benjamin Isaiah was first stopped at Heathrow Airport, in London, with a stash of tobacco products, which he hadn't paid the duty on, but was released with just a warning. However, the 57-year-old proved he hadn't learned his lesson was he was detained again a few months later, this time as he got off a plane at Newcastle, a court heard.
Isaiah's suitcases were searched and he was arrested and charged after officials found 91,200 cigarettes, worth £31,000 in unpaid duty. Isaiah, of Bonham Way, in Gravesend, Kent, has now narrowly avoided jail after he was given a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.
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Newcastle Magistrates' Court was told that Isaiah was stopped at Newcastle International Airport on October 18 last year as he got off a flight. District Judge Paul Currer said: "The cigarettes were all recovered but you brought into the UK a significant amount of cigarettes, 91,200.
"That's a total of £31,000 of duty you evaded. This is significant offending and it clearly crosses the custody threshold. The situation was made worse because you committed a similar offence a number of months earlier at London Heathrow Airport. On that occasion, no further action was taken against you.
"As a result, you were aware of what you were doing on this occasion. I bare in mind your previous good character and that you are now suffering from ill health."
Janice Hall, defending, said Isaiah, who pleaded guilty to one count of fraudulently evading duty, was remorseful. She added: "He tells me he was going to give the cigarettes away to friends and relatives as presents. He's a man of previous good character and he cooperated fully throughout the whole process."
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