A MAN involved in the importation of 2.4 million bootleg cigarettes from the Continent was yesterday jailed for 18 months.

Durham Crown Court was told Hugh Knowlson was "a go-between" in the operation, helping to arrange the smuggling of the cigarettes among a consignment of peat from Lithuania.

The 44-year-old from Blossom Grove, Success, near Shiney Row, on Wearside, admitted conspiracy to evade payment of duty on imported tobacco.