Qualified barrister sentenced for tobacco smuggling fraud

A plot to smuggle over a tonne of shisha tobacco into the UK, costing an estimated £106,000 in lost duty and taxes, has ended with a London jeweller being sentenced at Ipswich Crown Court.

Qualified barrister, Mohammed Shafee Shaikh, was working as a Hatton Garden jeweller when he was arrested by investigators from HMRC in December 2013, after the tobacco was found in a lorry at the Port of Felixstowe hidden in a consignment of charcoal sacks.

The load was headed for a private address in Rochford, Essex, where Shaikh was apprehended by HMRC officers and the shisha was seized. A computer was also seized during a search of his home address, which was found to have been used to design the sacks the tobacco was hidden in.

Paul Barton, assistant director of criminal investigation at HMRC, said: 'Being a trained barrister, Shaikh knew full well that he was breaking the law, but thought he could make easy money, attempting to hide the smuggled tobacco by claiming to be importing charcoal.

'He was wrong, stealing money that should be paying for public services is a serious offence and we take robust action to detect and bring those responsible before the courts.'

Shaikh was a director of Shaikh & Sons Limited, based in Hatton Garden, London, trading in gold and making high quality bespoke jewellery. He is a qualified barrister, though not currently practising at the bar. A Mohammed Shafee Shaikh - a member of Lincoln's Inn - was called to the Bar in March 2013.

Shaikh was charged with tobacco smuggling offences under the Customs and Excises Management Act 1979. He pleaded guilty on 10 April 2015 at Ipswich Crown Court.

The judge at Ipswich Crown Court sentenced Shaikh to 15 months in prison, suspended for two years, as well as 150 hours of unpaid work.