CUSTOMS officers have hailed a four-year jail sentence passed on a driver at the centre of a smuggling operation which distributed 1.8m cigarettes around the North-East.

The sentence was imposed on John Hartley, 49, of Dunelm Road, Thornley, east Durham, who carried out his smuggling activities while working for a Peterlee transport company.

Also appearing at Teesside Crown Court on Friday were his three associates, including his 29-year-old nephew, Stephen Peachey, of Morris Crescent, Thornley, David Bullock, 30, of Hartlepool Street, Thornley, and David Eltringham, 36, of Seaton Avenue, Houghton-le-Spring, Wearside.

All three were sentenced to a year in prison, suspended for two years.

The court was told that the smuggling resulted in a loss of duty revenue totalling £630,000.

A customs spokesman said: "We believe that the four-year custodial sentence sends out a strong message to those people who are involved in dealing in smuggled cigarettes.

"They are defrauding the community as a whole, they are taking away from the livelihood of honest retailers, and they are depriving the general public of money."