ATTEMPTS to smuggle more than a quarter of a million illicit cigarettes have been foiled in less than a week at the North-East’s biggest airport.

UK Border Agency officers made the seizures from passengers returning on four flights from the Canary Isles to Newcastle Airport in the past seven days.

Almost 70 kilos of hand rolling tobacco was also intercepted in the purge.

The haul, found stashed among hand and hold luggage of a dozen passengers, will now be destroyed.

The agency is now staging follow up investigations stemming from the seizures.

Tony McMullin, the agency’s deputy director for Border Force North, welcomed the scale of the recovery.

"The seizure of these cigarettes is a big haul for Newcastle, and is indicative of the tight controls we have in place to protect all our borders.

"This contraband tobacco was seized over a period of a week, reflecting the fact that our officers are working to keep the frontier secure at all times.

"A haul of this size would defraud the Government out of significant revenue at a time when the public purse can least afford it.

"Tobacco smuggling such as this is also used to fund serious organised crime, including drug smuggling and people trafficking."

Mr McMullin added that the agency, in partnership with HM Revenue and Customs, "will not hesitate" to take action against those involved in smuggling.

* The UK Border Agency was launched by the Home Office in april 2008 to establish a single force to protect the country’s borders, control migration, prevent tax fraud, smuggling and immigration crime as well as help to ensure "quick and fair" decisions are made on asylum claims.