24 CIGARETTE SMUGGLERS CAUGHT ON ONE HOLIDAY JET

A holiday flight was carrying 24 members of four different smuggling
gangs trying to bring half a million contraband cigarettes into
Britain, a court was told.

Customs officers could not find enough cells to detain all the
smugglers arrested leaving a flight from Tenerife. The 19 men and five
women, all from Darlington and Doncaster, were stopped as they walked
through the green channel at Exeter airport in January 1998. Customs
officers found 25,000 packets of cigarettes, value at UKP68,000, in
their luggage.

A two-year series of trials and court hearings ended at Exeter Crown
Court at the weekend with the jailing of Robert Thompson, ringleader
of the largest smuggling operation. Thompson, 50, of Doncaster,
admitted two counts of cigarette smuggling and was jailed for eight
months. Five other smugglers from the Tenerife flight were also
jailed, including Robert Smith, 34, of Penrith, who was sentenced to
four months.

The remaining smugglers received fines totalling UKPA36,250, were
placed on probation or ordered to carry out 1,170 hours of community
service.