THOUSANDS of illicit cigarettes have been seized from passengers returning on flights at Newcastle Airport over the last few days.

UK Border Agency officers have prevented almost 180,000 cigarettes being smuggled into the country as a result of checks on passengers at airport arrivals.

They were seized from passengers on three separate flights, one from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and two from the Canary Islands.

The first haul was picked up when UK Border Agency officers stopped a Teesside man in his 20s as he attempted to pass through customs with 20,000 cigarettes in his suitcase, after flying from Dubai, last Thursday.

Two days later officials stopped four men and two women, who were travelling together, carrying a total of 110,000 cigarettes in their luggage.

All six are from the North-East and had arrived on a flight from the Canary Islands.

The third happened yesterday morning, when officers seized 48,000 cigarettes hidden in the luggage of a man who had also flown in from the Canary Islands.

Fred Simmons, assistant director of the UK Border Agency, welcomed the finds and praised the vigilance of officers in the airport arrivals area.

"These seizures demonstrate the tight controls we have in place to stop to the flow of contraband tobacco.

"Tobacco smuggling is not a victimless crime. A haul such as this would have defrauded the Government out of vital funds for services, as well as undercutting local shops who ply a genuine trade.

"Cigarette smuggling is often linked to serious organised crime and can provide the funding for much larger criminal operations such as drug smuggling or people trafficking."

Mr Simmons added that all the seized cigarettes will now be destroyed.