Jersey man jailed for smuggling tobacco and cigarettes making more than £95k

32-year-old Aaran Howard Eastwood is said to have made more than £95,230 selling the illegally imported tobacco products, and evaded paying £24,650 in duty. Credit: Government of Jersey

A man from Jersey has been jailed for smuggling tobacco and cigarettes into the island, making more than £95,000 in the process.

32-year-old Aaran Howard Eastwood was given a 15-month custodial sentence for nine counts of fraudulently evading duty on tobacco and cigarettes at the airport.

Officials from Jersey's Customs and Immigration Service said he evaded paying £24,650 in duty between October 2020 and October 2021.

He also imported a small number of diazepam tablets which are a Class C drug.

Aaran Howard Eastwood, 32, was sentenced to a 15 month custodial sentence. Credit: Government of Jersey

Officials say he made £95,230 from the illegal imports, so ordered that amount be confiscated from him.

Evidence was found to show he evaded the duty on 37kgs of hand-rolling tobacco and 11,200 cigarettes. 

Senior Manager Paul Le Monnier said: “Aaran Eastwood evaded duty of nearly £25,000 over a year by smuggling cigarettes and tobacco into Jersey.

"The tobacco goods were then supplied to his co-accused who was selling them locally for profit”.

His co-accused Antonio Paulino De Andrade, 60, from Madeira was given a fine of £6,000 for knowingly acquiring tobacco goods over the same period, chargeable with duty that had not been paid.

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