A plane passenger has avoided jail after being caught smuggling 91,000 cigarettes into Newcastle Airport.
Benjamin Isaiah was first stopped at Heathrow Airport, in London, with a stash of tobacco products, which he hadn't paid the duty on, but was released with just a warning. However, the 57-year-old proved he hadn't learned his lesson was he was detained again a few months later, this time as he got off a plane at Newcastle, a court heard.
Isaiah's suitcases were searched and he was arrested and charged after officials found 91,200 cigarettes, worth £31,000 in unpaid duty. Isaiah, of Bonham Way, in Gravesend, Kent, has now narrowly avoided jail after he was given a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.
