Two people have been arrested after investigations into a family-based tobacco smuggling syndicate in Auckland.<\/p>\n
Customs Investigations manager Bruce Berry said officers intercepted 79.6kg of tobacco. Photo: 123RF<\/p>\n
Customs started looking into the case earlier this year and found that the family was manipulating travellers to illegally bring tobacco into New Zealand from the Cook Islands.<\/p>\n
Customs Investigations manager Bruce Berry said officers intercepted 79.6kg of tobacco and $113,422 in evaded taxes.<\/p>\n
\"We saw a spike in interceptions of... people identified travelling with tobacco about 18 months ago,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Berry said a 34-year-old man was arrested at Auckland Airport on Tuesday after returning from Rarotonga.<\/p>\n
His mother, who is 52 years old, was arrested this morning after executed search warrants.<\/p>\n
The pair are believed to be linked to organised crime in Auckland.<\/p>\n
\"This was a systemic fraud where they were utilising friends and family travelling from Rarotonga,\" said Mr Berry.<\/p>\n
\"Criminals or opportunists may assume Customs isn't concerned about travellers who try to smuggle undeclared tobacco, but that's not true - we have a team that specifically targets the organisers of cross-border revenue fraud.\"<\/p>\n
Mr Berry said New Zealand Customs worked closely with the Cook Islands Customs Service and the Cook Islands Financial Intelligence Unit in this case.<\/p>\n
He said further arrests were likely.<\/p>\n
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Two arrests after probe into tobacco smuggling from Cook Islands - RNZ<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Two people have been arrested after investigations into a family-based tobacco smuggling syndicate in Auckland. Continue reading