JAILED: Student who was part of £2 million tobacco smuggling conspiracy

Feng Yang, 26, arranged for cigarettes and tobacco worth around £400,000 in evaded duty to be held at storage units in Rugeley, Brownhills, Birmingham, Solihull and further afield.

Birmingham Crown Court heard the smuggled products were often hidden in concrete blocks in batches of around 1,000kg worth up to £170,000 per-time to the taxman.

In total it was estimated the scheme deprived HMRC of around £2million.

Described as playing a significant part, accountancy student Fang said she was roped into the racket by her father who has since gone on the run leaving her to face justice alone.

She pleaded guilty to a single charge of conspiracy to evade excise duty.

Nicholas Smith, prosecuting, said Chinese student Yang took part in the scheme between 2011 and 2013.

But he said she was only one part of a larger smuggling racket.

He told the court; "The conspiracy goes beyond what this lady did.

"She almost certainly would not have known about other people involved in the transactions.

"She has got a large role but not a leading role.

"This was a very wide ranging conspiracy involving a large number of conspirators."

Mr Smith said Yang's role was to contact storage facilities and arrange for deliveries of illicit cigarettes to be held.

However he conceded she may not have known about the onward supply of the tobacco.

Following a raid on her home in Birmingham, Yang, of Farm Street, Hockley, was connected to seven storage sites including Rugeley Self Storage, Extra Storage in Brownhills, Access Self Storage in Birmingham and Solihull Storage.

At the Brownhills site around 1,000gk of rolling tobacco was uncovered after being hidden in concrete slabs.

Similar amounts were uncovered in Rugeley and at sites in Birmingham.

Officers found business cards, debit cards and emails connecting her to the sites which also included the names of co-conspirators, including her father, who have since gone on the run.

Links were also found between the conspiracy and another smuggling racket which was smashed in Wednesbury in 2013.

On that occasion around £1.7million of illicit cigarettes and tobacco were intercepted en route to Alligator Self Storage in Wednesbury.

Alan Nesbeth, aged 53, was jailed for five years while 28-year-old Jian Ning Yang was locked up for two-and-a-half years at Wolverhampton Crown a court in September 2014 following a trial.

Jailing Feng Yang for two years at Birmingham Crown Court, Judge Mark Wall said; "I have been urged to suspend the sentence but I will not do so.

"You became involved in serious organised crime and an immediate custodial sentence is necessary to mark the way such crime is treated by the courts."

He added claims Yang made to probation officers as part of a pre-sentence report quashed the notion the student was sorry for her actions.

He said; "In reality you feel sorry for yourself and the position your are in."

Gulam Ahmed, defending, said Yang arrived in the UK in 2010 as a student and struck up a relationship with her estranged father.

He said it was misplaced loyalty which led her to become involved in the conspiracy.

A woman of previous good character, he said she had committed no further offences since her arrest in March 2013 and that she had let down her mum and grandparents back in China.

Yang could face deportation after serving her sentence.