1.7m illegal cigarettes discovered in Lanarkshire raids as five arrested

Two men have been charged and three others arrested after 1.7 million illegal cigarettes were discovered in Lanarkshire.

HM Revenue and Customs officers, supported by police, seized cigarettes and tobacco worth more than £1m in duty and taxes during the two-day operation on January 28 and 29.

Three premises and a vehicle were searched in Larkhall, where 700,000 illicit cigarettes and 40kg of tobacco were discovered.

Illicit cigarettes found in Lanarkshire HMRC

A further 1,044,000 cigarettes were seized from three storage units in Motherwell.

Five arrests were made, and two men, aged 28 and 40, were charged on suspicion of excise duty evasion.

Investigations are ongoing.

An HMRC spokesperson said: “Illicit cigarettes undermine legitimate retailers and deprive our public services of around £1.8 billion a year.

Investigations into the find are ongoing HMRC

“We will continue to work with our Serious Organised Crime Taskforce partners to tackle the illicit trade and urge anyone with information about the smuggling, distribution or sale of illicit cigarettes to report it on GOV.UK.”