Brothers jailed over £6.4m booze tax fraud

Two brothers have been jailed after they were caught by the HMRC attempting to dodge £6.4 million in excise duty by trying to sell tax-free beer, wine and spirits that had been meant for export.

Inderjit Singh Mangher has been jailed for four years

Inderjit Singh Mangher and his brother, Amandeep were arrested after a covert surveillance operation by HMRC. Officers found large quantities of alcohol, including beer, wine and spirits at a shop and garage that the pair owned. Bottles of spirit with counterfeit labels were also found as well as over 2,000 litres of Glens Vodka on which no duty had been paid.

Jo Tyler, HMRC assistant director of criminal investigation, said: “This was alcohol duty fraud on a major scale, with huge quantities of wine, beer and spirits intended for export being diverted back into the UK.

“Our investigators found that the gang had crudely attempted to disguise their illegal activities by covering some of the genuine labels on the back of the bottles of vodka and whiskey with counterfeit ones.”

Inderjit Singh Mangher was sentenced to four years in prison while his brother was jailed for 27 months.