Cigarettes have been seized from a lorry at Newhaven ferry port
12 April 2012
Border officials have seized seven million illegally-imported cigarettes from inside a lorry after it arrived at a British port.
The cigarettes were recovered from a freezer unit on a 40ft lorry that had reached Newhaven ferry port in East Sussex from Dieppe.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) estimated that had the cigarettes reached the black market, it would have cost the Treasury £1.3 million in lost tax.
A 42-year-old unnamed lorry driver from Lanarkshire was arrested in connection with the seizure and freed on police bail until July 26.
The cigarettes would be burned at a power station to fuel the National Grid while inquiries continued, a HMRC spokesman said.
