'Largest' haul of 11m cigarettes seized at Felixstowe port

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-37482720

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An attempt to smuggle more than 11 million cigarettes into the UK was thwarted after customs officers became suspicious about a container's cargo.

The haul arrived at Felixstowe on a ship from Dubai.

The container was supposed to be full of polymer resin, but instead officers found the contraband.

It was the largest ever Border Force seizure of cigarettes at the port and "could have cost the Treasury £3.2m in unpaid duty", the Home Office said.

Nine hundred large boxes, each containing dozens of cartons of packs of 20 cigarettes, were found inside the container when officers swooped on 19 September.

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The "sheer scale of the smuggling attempt" meant it took about three days to unload and count the cigarettes, a Home Office spokesman said.

In all, 11,266,800 cigarettes in packs of 20 were found.

They were "not recognisable brands".

Charlotte Mann, assistant director for Border Force Felixstowe, said: "This is a significant seizure, the biggest my officers have ever made at the port.

"By stopping the shipment, Border Force has starved those responsible of the proceeds of their criminality."

The previous largest seizure of illegal cigarettes at the Suffolk port was in September 2010, when about 10 million were intercepted.