A CORK resident who smuggled over 46,000 cigarettes into Ireland has been given a 12-month suspended sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Inam Ullah (30), previously of Saleen, Cloyne, Cork, but now living in Castledermot, Midleton, pleaded guilty to attempting to evade duties on 46,800 cigarettes worth €17,461 at Dublin airport on October 21st, 2008.
The excise payable on the cigarettes was €11,467.
Judge Patrick McCartan said he intended to impose a significant fine “to act as deterrent to the accused” and to “send out a message to others” that this behaviour was not acceptable.
When advised by Anne Rowland, prosecuting, that the court had to impose either a minimum fine of €26,000 or a term of imprisonment, the judge decided this was an unrealistic figure, considering Ullah’s take home pay of less than €400 per week.
He sentenced Ullah to 12 months in prison, which he suspended for 12 months on condition that the accused “stay out of trouble”.
Customs officer Herbert Bailey told Ms Rowland that Ullah allowed his luggage to be searched after he was stopped in the green channel at Dublin airport, having flown in from Karachi in Pakistan. He said Ullah admitted to buying the cigarettes for 187,000 rupees (€1,615) in Pakistan and claimed that they were for him and his friends. He had no previous convictions.
Tony McGillicuddy, defending, told the judge that his client moved to Ireland from Pakistan in 2005 and married an Irishwoman in 2009. He said his client had been under financial strain and described it as an “ill-advised attempt” to smuggle cigarettes into Ireland.