§ Mr. BarronTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many retailers were(a) arrested, (b) prosecuted and (c) convicted for selling contraband tobacco in each year since 1996. [104632]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeData on arrests are not collected centrally by individual offence.
The Home Office Court Proceedings Database does not hold information on the employment status of individuals or the characteristics of defendants who are not individuals. Nor does it hold information about the characteristics of individual cases apart from those that are evident from the description of the offence with which the defendant has been charged.
Retailers selling contraband tobacco can be prosecuted under section 170 of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 (either subsection (1) or (2); Common Law (cheating the revenue) and section 1 of the Criminal Law Act 1977 (conspiracy to evade excise duty). Such cases cannot be identified separately from the many other offences prosecuted under this legislation, which will include beer, wine and spirits, for example, as well as tobacco.