Company director tried to smuggle thermal imaging rifle sights to Hong Kong

A company director has been jailed for two years for smuggling night-vision rifle parts to Hong Kong.

Steven Gates, 47, from Wakefield, tried to ship the sophisticated military grade thermal imaging gun sights to a buyer in Hong Kong without a strategic export licence.

He tried to send eight of the rifle scopes to Hong Kong between February 2022 and May 2023.

He described them on shipping papers as low-value cameras but knew shipping them would have required a licence.

He was caught following an investigation by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) after Border Force colleagues seized three of the items at Manchester Airport in February 2022 and five more in April 2023.

The UK operates a strict licensing regime to uphold international sanctions and to ensure military equipment does not fall into the wrong hands.

HMRC has ramped up its enforcement activity in recent years, pursuing 51 criminal investigations in 2024/25 compared with five in 2021/22.

There is a partial arms embargo for China and this was extended to Hong Kong in 2020.

Edwige Hill, Deputy Director in HMRC’S Fraud Investigation Service, said:

“This was a calculated and persistent attempt to undermine and circumvent the strict licensing regime that is in place to protect the UK.

“This case sends a clear warning to others that if you try and send military items without an export licence, we will catch you and you will face justice.”

HMRC criminal investigators discovered evidence of 10 further shipments to Hong Kong during a search of his home in May 2023, where he was arrested.

Gates admitted falsifying export documents to conceal the true nature of the items and was sentenced to two years and one month in prison at Leeds Crown Court on February 6.

Notes to Editors

1. Broadcast interviews with a HMRC spokesperson are available on request.
2. Steven Gates, DOB (07/01/1979), a Director of Metalwork Business, of Howden Way, Wakefield, Yorkshire, was sentenced to two years and one month in prison at Leeds Crown Court on February 6, 2026.
3. He was charged with fraudulently evading a prohibition or restriction on the export of goods contrary to s68of the Customs and Excise Management Act (1979) and knowingly making an untrue declaration to HM Revenue and Customs contrary to s167 of the Customs and Excise Management Act (1979).
4. The scopes are designated as ML1d in the UK Military List [Schedule 2 to the Export Control Order 2008] contained within the UK Strategic Export Controls Lists and would require a licence for export from the UK.
5. Criminal investigation figures show the number of investigations pursued during each financial year. Because cases can run for multiple years, some may be counted more than once.
6. Effective controls and enforcement on military goods are vital to the UK’s national security, and HMRC supports this by operating a voluntary disclosure process for unlicensed exports of strategic or sanctioned goods or transfers of controlled technology; all disclosures are assessed and may result in educational visits, written warnings, compound settlements, or, in the most serious cases, referral to UK prosecution authorities.
   
7. You can find out more about HMRC's approach to strategic export violations at gov.uk.
8. Follow HMRC’s Press Office on Twitter @HMRCpressoffice
9. Information on payments of compound settlements is published by the Export Control Joint Unit (ECJU) via Notices to Exporters (NTEs) https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/notices-to-exporters
   
10. Further guidance on the voluntary disclosure regime is available at:
    https://www.gov.uk/guidance/export-controls-military-goods-software-and-technology#breaches-of-export-control-and-trade-sanctions-legislation