This story has all the makings for a Hollywood spy thriller: expensive car parts, a massive smuggling operation, and a truck equipped with James Bond-style revolving license plates. According to a report by Kent Online, a man has been arrested and sent to jail for smuggling 6,349,800 mixed-brand cigarettes into the United Kingdom, smokes that would normally require a duty of £2.7 million (roughly $3.6 million).
On June 5, 2025, according to the report, Belarusian national Andreu Silivaniuk was behind the wheel of a truck filled with Bentley car parts that were headed to the factory in Crewe, England. Nothing illegal about that. However, when Border Force agents stopped him at the port, they reportedly discovered more than six million cigarettes inside the freight boxes filled with Bentley components. In addition, the agents allegedly noticed that the truck was equipped with a revolving license plate. A further search reportedly uncovered “suspect” documents usually held by Border Force, along with two phones and a heavily damaged tablet device.
When initially stopped at the port, Silivaniuk produced paperwork for the 14 crates of Bentley car parts, according to Kent Online, and he also claimed that there were no cigarettes in the truck. But the ruse didn’t last long, as “a cable tie was noticed to have been placed around the front of the plate bracket which allowed a number plate to be revolved and interchanged,” explained prosecutor Rajesh Pabary.
Judge Daniel Stevenson told Silivaniuk in court that this was the second case he had dealt with in recent months of cigarettes being smuggled into the U.K. hidden in car parts. The judge said he believed Silivaniuk was simply a courier in a much larger scheme, that he apparently knew nothing about; nevertheless, a sentence of two years and seven months was passed down.
Still, it seems even this bust covers just a small piece of the smuggled tobacco coming into Great Britain every year. Kenny Dunk, operational lead in His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Fraud Investigation Service, spoke after the trail about how large of an issue smuggling cigarettes is: “Illicit cigarettes undermine legitimate retailers, funds wider crime, and deprives our vital public services of around £1.8 billion a year.”
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