Police scrambled a helicopter and diverted patrol

Police scrambled a helicopter and diverted patrol cars to reinforce Revenue
officers raiding a Yorkshire property as an Anglo-Greek gang of bootleggers
were arrested, a jury heard.

An articulated lorry packed with smuggled cigarettes – part of the massive 160 million bootlegged by the gang – was shadowed from Southall, Middx.

, to a bungalow in Bootham Lane, Dunscroft, near Doncaster, the home of alleged gang member Frank Watson.

Around 8 million cigarettes were unloaded from the Mercedes vehicle – allegedly especially purchased by the gang to help distribute contraband from the South – and placed in a barn at the rear of Watson’s bungalow in a sparsely populated part of the White Rose county.

Insp Michael Timmins, of South Yorkshire Police, took charge of the force’s
part in the raid but denied it was ‘pre-planned’ and the authorities were
‘tipped-off’ in advance.

‘We would certainly have been better equipped than we were on the night.

There was a telephone call (from Customs),’ he said.

The officer told London’s Southwark Crown Court that Revenue officers called
for assistance in a ‘search and seizure operation’ and he called in the police chopper, which is based in Sheffield.

‘It’s an operational decision,’ he said.

‘We normally call as early as possible so it is already flying towards us.

We are about 12 minutes flying time away.

‘You try and get them airborne sooner than later.

.

.

and if necessary cancel.

We use helicopters very very frequently now.

‘

Mr Timmins said the call from Customs alerted police to the problem that there were men ‘unloading’ a lorry load of cigarettes.

The court heard the truck was repacked, sealed and driven to a secure police
‘receiving centre’ in Blyth.

The lorry was registered to Ken Williamson Transport – allegedly a company
controlled by defendant Kenneth Hopper, from Rotherham, under the assumed name of Williamson.

The jury has been told that Hopper was the ‘transport officer’ behind the distribution of the smuggled cigarettes and responsible for hiring drivers.

It is alleged that over 10 months smugglers successfully evaded the Customs net to bring 112 million cigarettes into a highly profitable black market.

A
further 48 million were seized.

The operation is alleged to have cost the Revenue more than pnds stlng 28
million in lost taxes – but the cigarettes that did get through are said to
have earned bootleggers up to pnds stlng 12.

5 million in profits.

Smugglers are alleged to have run 20 containers stuffed with contraband from
Greece, shipping the goods under the disguise of importing biscuits and
‘puddings.

‘

In the dock are: Kevin Hemming, 46, of Farm Crescent, Wexham Estate, Slough;
David Langley, 54, of Cemetery Road, Dronfield, Derbyshire; Watson, 48, of
Bootham Lane, Dunscroft, Doncaster; and Kenneth Hopper, 40, of Corr Head Lane, Bolton-on-Dearne, Rotherham.

Their fellow defendants are: Charalambos Kelesides, 42; Georgios Andreadis, 41; Nikoloas Papadopoulos, 30; and Panagiotis Xanthopoulos, 36.

They all deny conspiracy to defraud together with John Kalogeropoulos and
Theodoros Savaidis – alleged masterminds who are on th run from the authorities.

The trial continues.

ends