Children as young as six often light-up

An estimated 18,000 youngsters under the age of 15 in the North East are smoking regularly.

Customs and Excise said there was evidence that cigarettes were being sold to children from ice cream vans.

It is thought smuggled cigarettes are more likely to end up in the hands of children because they are cheaper.

Children targeted

Customs and Excise teamed up with health agencies in the North East for the high profile campaign that saw the cigarettes being buried at Diggerland childrens theme park.

Rob Hastings-Trew, North East Customs and Excise spokesman, told BBC Radio Newcastle: "We are in absolutely no doubt that people who deal in these cheap smuggled cigarettes are selling to children.

"We have seized four ice cream vans in the last year and have found two or three cigarettes in bags in these vans.

"These are obviously for sale to children."

Latest campaign

Health promotion specialist Maureen Shorter said the amount of young people becoming addicted to tobacco is worrying.

She said Sunday's operation to bury the cigarettes was the latest in a series of anti-smoking campaigns.

"When I say children are smoking, we are talking about children aged 15 and 16 down to as young as six-year-old.

"That is one of the reasons that as a group across the region, the various organisations have come together to build on two or three campaigns we have had recently."