Man deported over excess smokes

A businessman from Jiangsu province has been deported from the UK for taking 35 undeclared cartons of cigarettes into the country, the Shanghai Airport Frontier Inspection Station said Wednesday.

UK authorities seized the cigarettes and revoked the businessman's two-year business visa, according to the station's press release.

The businessman, surnamed Wu, who arrived back in Shanghai Wednesday, was a commercial representative who often traveled to the UK. He said he intended to give the cigarettes as gifts to clients because of the high taxes they have to pay for tobacco in the UK.

Before departing for the UK from Shanghai Pudong International Airport, Wu ignored airline staff who warned him that he wasn't supposed to take so many cigarettes into the UK. Because of the deportation, Wu will have trouble getting another visa to the UK.

The UK allows foreign visitors to take a maximum 200 cigarettes, 50 cigars, or 500 grams of tobacco into the country. A carton of cigarettes contains 10 packs of 20 cigarettes.

In a similar case, a Shanghai tourist surnamed Wang was recently deported from the UK for failing to declare the 26 cartons of cigarettes he took into the country.