Cigarette smuggler caught after M74 crash with truck

A man was caught trying to hide a £32,000 stash of smuggled tobacco and cigarettes after a crash with a lorry on the M74.

Factory worker Ayub Said, 41, from Coventry, attempted to hide laundry bags and cardboard boxes down the embankment after the collision near Abington on 9th September 2020.

He pleaded guilty to Excise Duty fraud in a hearing at Lanark Sheriff Court.

Window escape

The court was told that while Police Scotland and the Scottish Ambulance Service were on route to the scene, Said, climbed out of the driver’s-side window and carried laundry bags and cardboard boxes from his car and down the motorway embankment.

When they arrived, officers carried out a search of the area and discovered the bags and boxes about five meters down the embankment. Inside, they found 99.5kg of tobacco and 35,000 cigarettes.

Said has been sentenced to a Community Payback Order of 260 hours of unpaid work, to be completed within 12 months as well as a Restriction of Liberty Order meaning he must stay at home between 7pm and 7am for four months.

Hear the latest news on Clyde 1 on FM, DAB, smart speaker or the Rayo app.