UKP 250K BOOTLEG WHISKY SWOOP

18,500 bottles found after swoop on truck

SMUGGLED whisky worth more than UKP 250,000 has been seized after a Customs
swoop on a lorry.

Ten thousand bottles of bootleg Whyte&Mackay were discovered in the back of
the 40-foot truck.

Soon after, officers found 8500 more bottles stashed on an industrial estate.

Customs said it was one of the biggest hauls of stolen whisky in Scotland.

The lorry was stopped in Hillington, Glasgow, last week by police and
Customs officers working on the Crime Braker campaign.

The crackdown targets criminals who use the transport system, and has
netted drugs, tobacco, alcohol and illegal goods worth more than UKP 1.7
million in just two weeks.

Customs believe the seized Whyte&Mackay was stolen in Germany.

The bottles found in the lorry, and on an industrial estate in Airdrie,
Lanarkshire, would have netted UKP 145,000 in tax if they had been imported
legally.

Ron Barrie, of HM Customs and Excise, said yesterday: "We believe this
whisky had been delivered to Germany when it was stolen and sent back to
Scotland.

"The lorry was targeted as a result of intelligence we had built up. We had
a good idea about what we were going to find.

"The success of the operation should send a clear message that we are not
just interested in those coming through our airports and ports.

"We are as interested as the police in what is being moved about our roads,
and we are working with them to stop our transport system being used by
criminal gangs."

Week two of Crime Braker also saw major seizures of tobacco, cigarettes and
drugs.

Customs found more than 200,000 cigarettes, worth UKP 33,000, in separate
raids at Edinburgh, Glasgow and Prestwick airports. They also netted UKP
16,000 worth of tobacco.

Drug seizures by police over week two totalled UKP 790,000. In Strathclyde
alone, heroin, ecstasy and cannabis valued at UKP 750,000 was uncovered.

Officers from Northern Constabulary arrested a man with heroin worth UKP
40,000 on him.

Counterfeit goods worth UKP 45,000, including DVDs, videos, CDs and
computer games, were seized in a raid at East Fortune Market in East Lothian.

And police in Lanarkshire recovered two stolen cars, a BMW and a
Mitsubishi, worth UKP 66,000.

Crime Braker, part of the Safer Scotland campaign, started on March 28 and
will run for two months.

The campaign has seen seizures of heroin worth UKP 647,000, cannabis worth
UKP 465,000, amphetamines worth UKP 100,000, Ecstasy worth UKP 80,000 and
cocaine worth UKP 1000.

Officers have found cigarettes worth ?47,000and tobacco worth ?20,000.

So far, 265 people have been arrested across Scotland.

[SIDEBAR - TABLE]

THE BIG SEIZURES SO FAR (in UKP)

Heroin

647,000

Cannabis

465,000

Amphetamines

100,000

Ecstasy

80,000

Cocaine

1000

Tobacco

20,000

Cigarettes

47,000

Alcohol

250,000

Fake goods

45,000

Stolen property

66,000