TWO North-East men who tried to smuggle more than 2.6 million contraband cigarettes into the country were jailed yesterday.

Former fitness boss Carlo Citrone, 38, was locked up for two years and long-time business associate William Howard, 41, was sentenced to 12 months.

Judge George Moorhouse told them: "You both know from your experience of life that people who commit an offence of this kind have to accept it justifies a custodial sentence."

Teesside Crown Court heard that Citrone was the mastermind behind the plan, and he recruited haulage company boss Howard to transport the cigarettes to the North-East for storage.

But their scam was uncovered when the true contents of their shipment from Cambodia - said to be the belongings of a fictional person who was moving home to Northumberland - was found in South-ampton.

A surveillance operation was set up by customs investigators and the crates of Crown brand cigarettes were delivered to Howard's warehouse in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, in March 2002.

Citrone, of Warren Lea, Springwell Village, Gates-head, and Howard, of Northside Close, Middridge, County Durham, had denied evading £413,587 in excise duty but were found guilty last month after a nine-day trial.

They returned to court yesterday to be sentenced.

Paul Cleasby, defending Howard, described Citrone as "a man who has previously been able to hold his head up high in the community" and handed three references to the court.

Mr Cleasby said father-of-two Howard started work at the age of 12 and had spent the past seven years building up his haulage business, which employs seven people.

"Custody will hit him hard," said Mr Cleasby. "In addition, it will have a huge impact on the firm he runs and the families of those he employs."

Christopher Mitford, for Citrone, said his client accepted he would be jailed, but said neither men had profited from the scam and both stood to suffer heavy financial loss when the duty was recovered from their assets in the next six months.