A mammoth haul of two million cigarettes suspected to be smuggled illegally from Poland has been uncovered by investigators.

Five men were arrested on Thursday last week after an operation by Revenue and Customs officers discovered a heavy goods vehicle and trailer stored in Honeypot Lane, Stanmore , believed to have arrived in the UK that same morning, containing 1,648,000 cigarettes suspected to be illicit.

On gathering further evidence, officers returned on Saturday, finding 490,000 more and arresting another man at a nearby address.

Jennie Kendall, spokeswoman for HMRC, said: “We have uncovered and seized a major haul of illegal cigarettes and arrested six people in this latest operation to disrupt the supply of tobacco smuggling activities.

“Tobacco crime has a damaging impact on local communities and undermines legitimate producers and retailers, costing the UK around £2billion a year in lost revenue.”

Both vehicles were Polish registered and the cover load for the consignment was described as ‘car parts’.

The duty lost on the goods is understood to come to £481,000.

Those arrested include:

  1. Three men from Greenford, Middlesex aged 34, 37 and 38
  2. One man from Surbiton, Surrey, aged 39
  3. Two men with no UK address, aged 29 and 36

All six men have been bailed until February next year while investigations continue.

Councillor Varsha Parmar (Labour), cabinet member for environment, crime and community safety, said: “Smuggling cigarettes is something we need to stub out.

“You might think buying a cheap packet of cigarettes harms no one – apart from the smoker – but tax evasion costs the UK billions of pounds each year and the proceeds can be used to fund organised crime.

“This operation by custom officers has broken up a significant smuggling ring and taken around two million of illegal cigarettes off the streets of Harrow.”

Anyone with information on tobacco smuggling and fraud should contact the Customs Hotline on 0800 59 5000.