BOOTLEG cigarettes worth £500,000 have been found hidden at the premises of a North-East business.
Customs officers found the stash of 2.3 million contraband cigarettes inside more than 200 spools of cable at a firm in Middlesbrough.
It is the latest haul in a series of strikes to target the illegal trade in untaxed tobacco and alcohol.
The cigarettes will be destroyed and officers have pledged to continue their crackdown on smugglers who are offering North-East punters cut price goods on the black market.
It is estimated that the average North-East shop is losing more than £20,000 a year as a result of the illicit tobacco trade.
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