Final member of £2million cigarette smuggling gang run from Northampton café jailed for 14 months

Piotr Baranowski, aged 47, of Peterborough, was sentenced on Friday, October 23, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to transfer criminal property, a spokesperson has confirmed.

His sentencing brings proceedings against five members of the gang to a close, following an HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) investigation into the smuggling of around six million illicit cigarettes into the UK.

HMRC said the operation, which involved storing smuggled cigarettes at a remote unit outside Brixworth, cost the public purse more than £2million in lost revenue.

Investigators raided the storage unit in February 2021 and identified Mon Cher Cafe on Wellingborough Road, Northampton, as a base for the gang's activities, a spokesperson said.

The café was run by Alin Latco, aged 51, of Francis Avenue, Northampton.

According to HMRC, CCTV captured gang members meeting at the premises and moving bags of cash around.

Officers subsequently discovered approximately £67,000 in cash inside a carrier bag at the café.

A further £349,000 was recovered when officers stopped a car driven by Baranowski.

Three other gang members were sentenced at Northampton Crown Court on Friday, September 25.

Latco admitted evading excise duty and conspiracy to transfer criminal property. He was jailed for four years and four months.

Adrian Ghergel, aged 45, of Hood Street, Northampton, admitted the same offences and received a four-year prison sentence.

Xoshawi Kalend, aged 48, of St Leonards Road, Northampton, admitted conspiracy to transfer criminal property.

He received a 24-month prison sentence, suspended for 21 months, alongside 100 hours of unpaid work and a six-month electronically monitored curfew.

Another gang member, Sebastian Warzuchowski, originally from Darlowo, Poland, was jailed for three years and six months in July 2023.

James Ham, assistant director at HMRC's Fraud Investigation Service, said: "The illicit tobacco trade deprives our public services of funding, undercuts legitimate businesses and helps fund wider criminality.

"This gang were intent on flooding communities with cheap, illicit cigarettes and pocketing the proceeds – but HMRC was watching.

"These sentences reflect the serious consequences facing those who get involved in this kind of organised crime."

HMRC urged anyone with information about illegal tobacco sales to report it through GOV.UK.