Andreu Silivaniuk was caught with millions of cigarettes at Dover, UK. Photo / HM Revenue and Customs
A cigarette smuggler sought to avoid detection by using a James Bond-esque “revolving number plate”.
Andreu Silivaniuk received a two year and seven months’ sentence after pleading guilty to one count of fraudulent evasion of duty at Maidstone Crown Court on January 9.
The Belarus national had tried to smuggle over six million cigarettes past customs, worth around £2.7 million ($6.3m).
Silivaniuk was caught by Border Force officers in Dover, according to KentOnline.
The 34-year-old was driving a heavy goods vehicle fitted with a “revolving and interchangeable” number plate mechanism when he was stopped at the port in June last year, Maidstone Crown Court heard.
Border Force officials are said to have discovered 6,349,800 mixed-brand cigarettes hidden in freight boxes among a legitimate load of Bentley motor parts destined for the Crewe-based vehicle manufacturer.
Officials also reportedly found two phones, a tablet and the vehicle’s tachograph, which records details of the routes undertaken, had all been damaged.
At his sentencing hearing last week, Rajesh Pabary, prosecuting, said Silivaniuk had played a “significant role” in the operation.
He said: “This was a smuggling vehicle or a vehicle adapted to be one”.
The court heard that Silivaniuk had produced paperwork for his legitimate consignment of 14 packages of car parts but denied having any cigarettes when he was stopped.
After noticing that the vehicle registration plate did not match the registration number on the cab wheel arch, officials investigated further and found the Q branch-like contraption.
Pabary said: “A cable tie was noticed to have been placed around the front of the plate bracket which allowed a number plate to be revolved and interchanged.
“The genuine plate was on the flip side of the one being displayed. Forensics showed the defendant had had contact with that plate.”
Robert Levack, defending, said Silivaniuk, a married father-of-three from the city of Brest, had no previous convictions.
He said: “Clearly, being in custody for the first time and in another country away from his family will have a significant impact on him and [that] has had a significant impact. That is his own fault but I ask the court to take that into account.”
Sentencing, Judge Daniel Stevenson said Silivaniuk’s was the second case involving cigarettes being smuggled in car parts that he had presided over in recent months. This, he said, suggested that there were people above the smuggler in the organisation.
Judge Stevenson noted that the lorry driver would have been motivated by personal financial gain but said there was no evidence to show he knew the extent of the operation.
Speaking after the hearing, Kenny Dunk, of HM Revenue and Customs’ Fraud Investigation Service, said: “Illicit cigarettes undermine legitimate retailers, funds wider crime and deprives our vital public services of around £1.8 billion a year. We will continue to work with partners to tackle the illicit trade and urge anyone with information about the smuggling, distribution or sale of illicit cigarettes to report it on Gov.UK.”
Revolving number plates were introduced to the James Bond franchise in Goldfinger (1964) when an increasingly exasperated Q talks 007 through the modifications he has made to an Aston Martin DB5.
Demonstrated in Q’s lab, the front bumper displayed number plates marked for the UK, France and Switzerland rotating in a triangular pivot.
Guy Hamilton, director of four James Bond films including Goldfinger, later reflected: “My contribution was the revolving number plate, because I was getting a lot of parking tickets at the time and I thought it would be absolutely marvellous to collect a parking ticket and then juggle the number plate, drive off and not be worried”.
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