Four people have been convicted after police stormed an illegal ‘tobacco factory’
Top row left to right – Honpeng Yang, Mei Yun Wang. Bottom row: Xing Cai Lin, Zheming Han(Image: West Midlands Police)
A gang of four have been convicted over a £500,000 illegal ‘tobacco factory’ in Birmingham.
Detectives launched an investigation after stopping a car in the Southside area of the city in May.
Inside, officers found several weapons including a baseball bat, wooden club, metal bar and a knuckle duster.
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Further enquiries led detectives to an address in Perry Barr where they found more than 400kg of hand rolled tobacco worth £177,000.
They also seized over 4,500 illicit cigarettes, along with £33,000 in cash.
The address was effectively being operated as an illegal tobacco factory, police said.
Some of the tobacco seized (Image: West Midlands Police )
Four people at the address – Mei Yun Wang, Honpeng Yang, Zheming Han, and Xing Cai Lin – were arrested during the raid.
Detectives later found two storage units in Aston and Walsall with more tobacco worth approximately £275,000 stuffed inside.
In total, tobacco worth just over £450,000 was seized during the raids alongside £32,900 in cash.
Detectives soon realised that the Walsall container was registered to 45-year-old Wang.
The criminal – along with Yang, 46, Han, 23, and 50-year-old Lin – were subsequently charged with conspiracy to defraud, conspiracy to cheat the public revenue and money laundering.
The gang, all of Nash Square, denied the charges but were found guilty following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court.
Top row left to right – Honpeng Yang, Mei Yun Wang. Bottom row: Xing Cai Lin, Zheming Han(Image: West Midlands Police)
They were also found guilty of conspiring to defrauding Japan tobacco group. Wang and Lin were found guilty of conspiring to cheat the public revenue.
Detective Inspector Tom Lyons of West Midlands Police said: “The value of cash and illegal goods seized shows the financial gain made by criminals at the expense of law-abiding citizens, which is something we’ll keep cracking down on.”
Detective Constable Amy Sheldon-Wilson added: “This outcome should reassure the public that we are taking firm and proactive action against organised crime.
“Our investigation uncovered two defendants who defrauded the public revenue of an estimated four million pounds and spent decades evading law enforcement while remaining unlawfully in the UK.”
David Broadbent, Operational Lead at HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service, said: “The tobacco produced at illegal factories like this undermine legitimate retailers, funds wider organised crime, and harms public health.
“The weapons and cash seized by our West Midlands Police partners shows the link between tobacco fraud and other serious and organised criminality that harms our communities.”