Tobacco smugglers banned from Jersey

Tuesday 31 October 2023

A pair of smugglers who each tried to smuggle a kilo of tobacco into Jersey from Liverpool have been banned from the island for three years.

Valentin-Costi Ivan (22) and Marin-Gabriel Memis (32) arrived in the airport on 17 October with the pouches of hand-rolling tobacco concealed in their waistbands, the Magistrate's Court was told.

Both carried 20 pouches, each pouch containing 50 grams of tobacco.

The duty owed on the tobacco was £737 for each man. They both admitted the charge of the fraudulent evasion

Relief Magistrate David Le Cornu gave them credit for their guilty pleas, though said they were “probably inevitable in the circumstances”.

Ivan and Memis have spent the equivalent of three weeks in custody so he ordered them to leave Jersey and not to return for at least three years. The tobacco is to be destroyed.