A BUSINESSMAN who was caught taking illegal cigarettes from a Bolton storage unit has been sentenced to do unpaid work.

Bolton Crown Court heard how customs and excise officers were keeping watch on the Elite self storage units off Spa Road, Bolton, on June 4 last year when they spotted 47-year-old Farhad Babaker removing boxes and putting them into his car.

The Kurdish businessman was then followed to a mini market in Halliwell Road and the next day he was arrested outside a shop on Derby Street.

He had £1,000 on him as well as five packets of cigarettes and 50g of tobacco.

Roger Brown, prosecuting, said that inside the storage unit officers recovered 133,000 Russian cigarettes on which duty had not been paid as well as 2.5kg of tobacco.

Peter Cunliffe, defending, said that Babaker, of Royston Mains Crescent, Edinburgh, had flown back from Kurdistan for his sentencing and had only visited the storage unit, which was also used by other men, for the first time two days before he was caught.

Babaker pleaded guilty to avoiding paying duty, which is estimated to amount to £31,000.

Judge Graeme Smith sentenced him to do 100 hours unpaid work and pay £600 costs.

Speaking after the hearing, HMRC's assistant director of criminal investigation, Sandra Smith, said: “HMRC will not hesitate to investigate those who try to profit from defrauding honest taxpayers and businesses by providing an unregulated supply of smuggled tobacco."