We have seized seven million cigarettes in this operation and disrupted the trade in smuggled cigarettes

Shona Lowe

Customs officers had been watching the vans along the M5 and A38 in Bristol and sprang their trap as they were driven into a Somerset warehouse.

Bristol Crown Court heard how Cahill and Weyman were caught stripping down the mattresses and unloading the contraband into cardboard boxes.

In interview, both men said they had each been offered �100 for a day's labour, and claimed they knew nothing of the operation until they unpacked the cigarettes.

However, a jury took four hours to find Weyman, of Easton, Bristol, and Cahill, of Eastville, Bristol, guilty of dealing in goods chargeable with duty with intent to defraud.

A total of seven million cigarettes were eventually seized by customs officials investigating the scam - the largest single seizure of cigarettes in the South West.

Disrupted trade

In addition to Cahill and Weyman, another seven men were arrested.

Of those, five men - Paul Cambridge, 34, of Cheddar, Somerset, Carl Coles, 51, of Woolavington, Somerset, James Guyan, 33, of Keynsham, Bristol, Nicholas Ward, 26, of Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham and Steven Williams, 43, of Brislington, Bristol - were jailed for a total of eight years.

Customs and Excise spokeswoman Shona Lowe said: "We have seized seven million cigarettes in this operation and disrupted the trade in smuggled cigarettes and tobacco.

"The sentences are purely a matter for the court."

Cahill and Weyman were ordered to pay their fines at the rate of �5 a week.