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Pensioner and son handed prison sentences for making illegal snus millions

A Swedish pensioner and her son have been handed prison sentences for running an operation which dodged millions of kronor in excise taxes by sneakily moving 200 tonnes of snus tobacco in and out of Sweden.

Pensioner and son handed prison sentences for making illegal snus millions
Snus. Photo: Hasse Holmberg/TT

A kind of tobacco placed under the lip rather than smoked, snus is more popular than cigarettes in Sweden. Gothenburg district court judged that the 70-year-old woman and her son dodged 76 million kronor ($8.62m) in excise duty for the 200 tonnes of snus, and sentenced them to five years and six years in prison for serious tax evasion.  

Another four people were judged to be accomplices and handed prison sentences ranging from two years to three years and nine months, newspaper Göteborgs Posten reports.

EU rules forbid Sweden from exporting its beloved snus, but it can be exported to Norway. The tax-dodging operation took advantage of that distinction.

The snus was manufactured in Sweden then exported to Norway. After that it was moved on to Denmark and Germany, before being brought back into Sweden and sold without paying excise taxes. The crimes took place between 2009 and 2014.

Two men who are still suspects in the case are missing and suspected of being abroad.