CIGARETTE smugglers from Bolton who evaded tax to the tune of £760,000 have been jailed.

They were distributing black market cigarettes from a central storage unit in Darcy Lever where several of the gang were caught in 2014.

Investigators from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) had observed vehicles travelling to and from a commercial unit in Hacken Lane.

Following the arrest of one driver and the search of his van, HMRC officers raided the premises and discovered more than 3million smuggled king size 'Pride' brand cigarettes – a make that is not legally sold in the UK – hidden inside imported metal pipes.

The majority were still concealed in the 80 tubes inside a freight consignment and the rest of the gold-coloured cartons, manufactured for the Chinese market, were in various stages of being loaded or inside vans.

Richard Wentel, assistant director for the fraud investigation service at HMRC, said: "Our investigation proved that these men were at the centre of a criminal network evading hundreds of thousands of pounds in tax ?to line their own pockets.

"Disrupting criminal trade is at the heart of our strategy to clampdown on the illicit tobacco market, which costs the UK around £2 billion a year.

"This is theft from the taxpayer and undermines legitimate traders.

"The sale of illegal cigarettes or tobacco will not be tolerated."

Seven gang members, four of them from Bolton, admitted conspiring to evade excise duty at Manchester Crown Court.

Munaf Patel, aged 47, a service station attendant of Blackburn Road, Bolton, was sentenced to 12 months' jail after the court heard he acted as a sales broker dealing with the suppliers and finding customers for the smuggled cigarettes.

James Ward, who will serve six months in prison, was a jobless 59-year-old living in Norwood Grove, Bolton.

He was a customer buying wholesale quantities of illegal cigarettes.

Vehicle paint sprayer Isaac Duxbury, aged 28, of Aldercroft Avenue, Breightmet, received 18 months' imprisonment.

Duxbury was employed by the gang to unpack the smuggled cigarettes and re-box them for onward distribution.

Christopher Clarke, aged 47, of Coal Pit Lane, Smithills, was given two year' jail.

He rented the unit where the cigarettes were seized and was in daily contact with accomplice Taylor.

Their jailed co-defendants were Hassan Koc, of Tottenham, north London; Paul Keane, of Swinton, and Scott Taylor, of Lincoln, Lincolnshire.