hoard of illicit cigarettes – estimated to be worth £1.3 million in unpaid duty and VAT – have been seized at Immingham Docks.

hoard of illicit cigarettes – estimated to be worth £1.3 million in unpaid duty and VAT – have been seized at Immingham Docks.

The cigarettes, wrongfully declared on official documents as being textiles, were discovered by officers from the UK Border Agency in a freight container from Rotterdam.

All of the seized goods were Yes cigarettes – a brand not legally sold in the UK.

Also known as cheap whites, they are described as being made solely for smuggling, often obtained in large quantities by organised crime gangs who smuggle them into the UK.


They are then sold illegally in residential areas, pubs and clubs and some small independent retail shops.

The 8.2 million cigarettes have an estimated street value of £1.6 million.

Officials confirmed that a 57-year-old British man has been arrested and bailed pending further enquiries.

The haul – discovered on April 27 – is the latest in a string of attempts to import illegal cigarettes to the UK by docking at Immingham.

In March, a total of 3.5 million smuggled cigarettes were seized from a trailer at the port, with experts estimating the total revenue evaded by the smugglers on that occasion was more than £600,000.

In December, more than three million cigarettes – estimated to be worth more than £600,000 – were found stashed inside sofas arriving there, and just days later, UK Border Agency officers uncovered the illegal haul of 4.35 million Lambert & Butler cigarettes following checks on a lorry that was carrying tyres from Germany.

Commenting on the latest seizure, Bob Gaiger of HMRC said: "Cigarette smugglers don't care about the impact their actions have on legitimate retailers.

"This attempt to flood the Lincolnshire markets with smuggled cigarettes is motivated solely by greed.