CUSTOMS officers seized 900,000 cigarettes in a raid on an industrial unit yesterday.
The team of seven officers, based in Newcastle, targeted the Middlesbrough site in their latest bid to clamp down on illegal smuggling.
They removed 900,000 Regal cigarettes, which were concealed in a consignment of timber there.
Although no arrests were made, investigations into the incident are ongoing.
Rob Hastings-Trew, a customs spokesman for Northern England, said: "Such concealments demonstrate the lengths the organised criminal gangs who are smuggling tobacco are prepared to go to.
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