A GANG of cigarette smugglers were trapped by Customs officers – after “hijacking” a Brighouse firm’s identity.

They planned to smuggle millions of fake fags into the UK by using details of the textile firm for delivery purposes.

But their efforts were foiled by the Customs operation, which saw the haul intercepted in West Yorkshire.

The gang behind the smuggling case used the identity details of a genuine Brighouse textile firm to run their operation.

The smuggled cigarettes, hidden amongst bath and tea towels, were uncovered by officers from HM Revenue & Customs in a lorry ostensibly bound for Brighouse.

A Flockton man was part of the gang trapped in the operation.

Robert Wood, 52, was one of five men who attempted to flood the UK market with millions of counterfeit cigarettes.

Now all have been jailed or had suspended sentences imposed after a complex Customs and Excise inquiry.

And Customs’ Assistant Director for Criminal Investigation Peter Hollier warned others would follow.

“This group thought they had developed a foolproof plan – by hijacking a legitimate company’s identity to give their criminal deal a level of authenticity.

“However, what the group did not bank on is the vigilance of our investigators and the fact that this kind of crime does not go unnoticed.

“Cigarette smuggling is a serious crime and is treated as such by the justice system.

“We hope that this case serves as a stark warning to anyone who is involved with the illegal importation or trade of duty-free tobacco goods – this is crime that is always on our radar and no matter what the cover story is or how well criminals attempt to hide their activity, we will continue to target it.”

Recent Customs operations in Huddersfield targeted town-centre shops and quantities of cigarettes believed to have been smuggled into the UK were seized.

Criminal gangs in Eastern Europe are producing counterfeit cigarettes by the million and shipping them into the UK.

Wood, 52, of Manordale Close, admitted fraudulently evading excise duty and was given a nine-month jail term, suspended for 12 months. He was also ordered to do 150 hours community service.

Khayaam Beg, of Manchester, got four months, suspended for a year.

Keith Ward, 63, of Pontefract, was jailed for 15 months.

Steven Taylor, 58, of East Sussex, was given a nine-month sentence, suspended for a year, and community service.

Michael Ali, 60, from Ascot, was jailed for 18 months.

The gang appeared at Leeds and Bradford Crown Courts.

The courts were told details of their intricate plan to import counterfeit cigarettes from Belgium for sale to unwitting members of the public in towns and cities across Yorkshire and the North West.

All the men claimed that their names were linked purely by coincidence, but Customs investigators uncovered evidence to prove that the group had actively worked together to plan and carry out a smuggling operation.

The group arranged a delivery of illegal cigarettes after ‘hijacking’ the identity of the Brighouse firm and used it to cover their illicit trail, complete with false identities and forged paperwork, unaware that they were being monitored by specialist investigators from HMRC.

Customs officers struck as the cigarettes were being unloaded at a self-storage depot in Pontefract.

They caught Keith Ward red-handed, surrounded by a lorry-load of boxes, which contained more than half a million Blue Superking cigarettes hidden by boxes of towels and other textile products.

The cigarettes were later discovered to be counterfeits and thought to be worth an estimated £116,000 in lost excise duty and VAT.

Investigators then began to unravel the illegal operation, arresting the other men in connection with their involvement and later charged all five with being knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of excise duty.