A Dublin-based delivery driver, who smuggled 162,860 cigarettes into the UK hidden within purpose-built concealed racking, has been jailed for six months at Portsmouth Crown Court.
Veaceslav Margineanu, 27, a dual Moldovan/Romanian national living in Ireland was stopped by UK border officials on 23 September.
Margineanu had arrived by ferry at Portsmouth from Le Havre in France.
Officers discovered the smuggled cigarettes crammed into purpose-built racking hidden in the bulkhead behind the driver's cab.
Margineanu, who works as a delivery driver between Ireland and Paris, pleaded guilty at Portsmouth Magistrates' Court on 27 September to evading around £35,000 in excise duty.
Upon sentencing Portsmouth Judge Hetherington said: 'You involved yourself in a professional smuggling operation.
'Your reward may have been relatively small, but you would have known that concealing the cigarettes was plainly illegal and designed to avoid tax.'
At the time of his arrest, Margineanu was carrying €1665 and £220 in cash, which HMRC Criminal Investigators seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
He was also disqualified from driving for six months.
