TWO men who each tried to smuggle a kilo of tobacco into Jersey by concealing it in their waistbands have been told to leave the Island and not to come back for at least three years.
The Magistrate’s Court heard that Valentin-Costi Ivan (22) and Marin-Gabriel Memis (32) arrived at the Airport on 17 October on a flight from Liverpool with the hidden pouches of hand-rolling tobacco.
Both carried 20 pouches, each containing 50 grams of tobacco.
Speaking through a Romanian interpreter, they admitted the charge of the fraudulent evasion of duty.
The duty owed on the tobacco was £737 for each man.
Relief Magistrate David Le Cornu gave them credit for their guilty pleas, though said they were “probably inevitable in the circumstances”.
The pair have spent the equivalent of three weeks in custody so he ordered them to leave Jersey and banned them from returning for three years.
He also ordered that the tobacco be destroyed.
