A BOLTON man has been jailed for his role in an illegal cigarette smuggling operation.

Chetan Mawji, 36, of Chadbury Close, Lostock, was given six months when he appeared for sentencing at Preston Crown Court.

He was one of a six-man gang who had attempted to smuggle three million cigarettes hidden in pallets of carpet underlay to evade duty costs.

The men appeared for sentencing after they were caught red handed by revenue and customs officers at Darwen Mill with more than 3.7 million illegal cigarettes, in a planned operation dubbed Splice.

One of the six, Ellis Varey, of Ribble Avenue, Darwen, was handed the longest sentence of two-and-a-half years after the court heard he had pleaded not guilty to one count of evading excise duty, resulting in a trial.

The other four men, all from London, were handed lesser sentences.

Officers swooped on the gang in January and found three of the defendants loading laundry bags stuffed with cigarettes into a hire van on the site in Begonia Street, Darwen.

Varey, 26, was found at the back of the unit removing boxes of cigarettes hidden in pallets of floor underlay putting them into more laundry bags.

In total a sum of £1million would have been evaded in tax by the actions of the smugglers.

Defending Varey, Damien Nolan said: “This defendant is in a different position to the others because he is the only one who had a trial.

“He was far removed from the operation but played a part in the packing and unpacking of the cigarettes.

“He was only able to obtain bits and pieces by ways of employment. He is a hard-working man and he is dedicated to try to provide for his family.”

Simon Medland QC said: “These are not people who on the basis of this have been living lavish lifestyles.

“Not one of these men is anywhere near the top of this enterprise. Each of you is a decent human being with families and much good can be said about all of you.

“However you must be upheld. This is not a case of a single bag of cigarettes being touted around a car boot sale.”

Lukas Adasiewicz, 32, of Pinner, London, and Pawel Szymanski, 33, of Cannhall Road, London, were sentenced to 22 months. Lukasz Zwierz, 31, of Uxbridge, and Batosz Duzak, 29, of Perivale, London, were each sentenced to 20 months.

Tony Capon, a fraud investigator of HMRC, said:“This was a blatant attempt to smuggle millions of cigarettes into the UK. This gang thought they were being clever by hiding illicit tobacco within flooring packs, but our investigators were one step ahead.”