BOOZE BANDITS' HAUL OF SHAME

Smugglers Cost Britain Pounds1.2 Billion

Alcohol and tobacco smugglers cost Britain the price of seven brand
new hospitals last year alone, it emerged yesterday.

That's the pounds 1.2billion of duty they dodged - and the problem is
getting worse.

The sum would also have paid for the complete refurbishment of 160
crumbling secondary schools.

Other knock-on effects of the illicit trade include a huge black
market where children are tempted by cheap cigarettes and drink, and
small firms being crippled because they can't compete with the crooks.

A damning Commons report warned the situation is deteriorating with
violent criminal gangs fighting for control of major ports.

The Treasury Select Committee said: "We are profoundly dissatisfied
that resources should need to be diverted from other important areas
to deal with the crisis."

Small firms such as newsagents, and some pubs and off-licences, were
being put out of business.

And children were being encouraged to smoke and drink because of lower
prices and easy availability.

The report stated: "Tobacco smuggling is a more serious problem than
alcohol smuggling and one that appears to be rapidly worsening."

MPs attacked cuts in front-line customs staff and called for an urgent
pounds 35million injection to fight smuggling. They said: "Far more
should be done to keep smuggled goods out of the UK.

"The gradual erosion of staffing levels in Customs and Excise in
recent years has, in our opinion, contributed to the rise of smuggling
and must be reversed."

The MPs also warned the Government not to delay the installation of a
nationwide network of X-ray scanners to tackle large-scale smuggling.

But they rejected calls for a cut in duty.

The report said: "Reducing duty would stop the 'white van trade' in
smuggled alcohol and tobacco but it is less clear that this would
affect large-scale smuggling, which appears to be the major problem."