HC Deb 23 June 1994 vol 245 c251W
Mr. Miller

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many seizures of illegally imported alcohol were made by Her Majesty's Customs and Excise service in the last year for which figures are available; what was the total volume of these seizures; and how these figures compare with previous years.

Sir John Cope

During the year to 31 March 1994 Customs and Excise seized 790,169 litres of alcoholic drink in 1,866 seizures. Before the completion of the single market on 1 January 1993 only seizures of spirits were separately recorded as numbers of seizures of other alcoholic drinks were insignificant. Seizures recorded in the previous two financial years were: 1992–93, including first three months of the single market, 88,858 litres in 1,561 seizures; 1991–92, 73,956 litres in 3,132 seizures.