310,000 Litres Of Illegal Alcohol Seized In Nottingham

9 January 2015, 06:00 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

Nottingham Police and HMRC have found 310,000 litres of illegal alcohol after a raid on a business park off Radford Road.

HMRC say ths 295,000 litres of beer and 15,000 litres of wine is estimated to be worth £350,000 in lost duty and taxes.

An anonymous tip off led police to the industrial unit and a PCSO called for help when they didn't trust the paperwork drivers were showing them.

Usha Madaraa from Basford Police said: “This was an excellent result for all agencies involved. The location was first flagged thanks to an anonymous call about suspicious activity at the warehouse, which we followed up.
 
“The attending PCSO was dissatisfied with the paperwork presented by lorry drivers at the scene and called for back-up. The police team conducted further enquiries, including tacograph checks, and contacted HMRC who successfully made the seizure - together disrupting a significant level of illegal activity.”
 
No arrests have been made though.  Now officers and HMRC are waring shopkeepers not to buy off people offering them cut price booze.

Stuart Taylor, Assistant Director, Criminal Investigation, HMRC, said: “We want to warn local shopkeepers who are being offered cheap deals on alcohol to buy their stock only from legitimate and reputable sources, as selling duty free or counterfeit alcohol is a serious criminal offence.
 
“If they are caught, retailers selling illicit goods may have their stock seized, face a fine or have their licence to sell alcohol permanently revoked. They could also face prosecution.
 
“We are committed to stopping this criminal activity that costs the taxpayer around £1.2 billion in unpaid revenue each year and I would urge anyone with any information on the sale of illegal alcohol to contact us on the Customs’ Hotline on 0800 59 5000.”