Auckland businessman arrested for smuggling over $500,000 worth of cigarettes from China

An Auckland man has been arrested and charged with defrauding Customs for smuggling hundreds of thousands of cigarettes into New Zealand.

The 40-year-old man appeared in Auckland District Court on Thursday, Customs say further charges are likely.

In July, the man imported a shipping container of food from China under his business trading name.

Biosecurity New Zealand inspected the container and found a total of 2,418 cartons of cigarettes hidden amongst the food.

That's 483,600 individual cigarettes with revenue of $537,542.

"It's not illegal to import cigarettes but it must be declared and the correct duty and GST paid," said Customers Investigator manager Bruce Berry on Friday.

"Revenue fraud or tax evasion is a serious crime and Customs will not hesitate to prosecute."

Newshub.