CUSTOMS officers have foiled smugglers' plans to flood the region with cheap cigarettes.
They found 2.5 million cigarettes - equivalent to 125,000 packets of 20 - hidden in fridge- freezers being unloaded from a container at Tyne Dock, South Shields.
The cigarettes, smuggled from Europe, included Regal and Benson and Hedges brands, but officials say some may be counterfeit.
The haul, one of the largest in the region, led to several people being interviewed and released without charge.
Customs and Excise spokesman Robin Hastings-Trew said that organised criminal gangs were responsible for 80 per cent of the black market trade in cigarettes
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