MORE than 87,000 cigarettes and 17,000 litres of wine have been seized by Border Force officers at ports in Hull and Immingham.
The cigarettes found in Hull were hidden inside a specially adapted fuel tank of a lorry cab on September 15.
The driver was arrested and later released without charge, although the lorry and cigarettes were seized and will be disposed of by the Border Force.
In Immingham, officers discovered the wine, which equates to almost 18,500 bottles, after becoming suspicious of a container that arrived from the Netherlands on September 11.
The paperwork was found to be false and the delivery address was fictitious.
Chris Murphy, acting assistant director for Border Force, said: "These seizures are down to the hard work of Border Force officers who foil smuggling attempts like these on a daily basis."
Additionally, more than 10,000 cigarettes were seized from a passenger at Leeds Bradford International Airport. The passenger had originally flown from China but arrived at Leeds Bradford, on September 17, on a connecting flight from Amsterdam.
If the three attempts had not been intercepted it would have cost the Treasury almost £80,000 in unpaid excise duty.
All the alcohol and tobacco seized will now be destroyed.
Mr Murphy said: "I would urge anyone tempted by cheap alcohol and tobacco to think again.
"It cheats honest traders and it's totally unregulated, so buyers have no way of knowing what they are actually getting."
Passengers travelling from outside the European Union can only bring 220 cigarettes or 250g of tobacco into the UK tax free.
During the financial year 2012-13, 487 million cigarettes and 359 tonnes of hand rolling tobacco were seized by Border Force.
Industry data on the scale of illicit and cross-border tobacco consumption in Yorkshire and the Humber indicates the retail trade missed out on £440m in sales last year.
According to industry surveys, 23 per cent of cigarettes and 45 per cent of hand rolling tobacco was either illicit or cross-border shopped last year.
This represents a tax loss to the Government of an estimated £355m.
Peter Osborne, regional manager of the Tobacco Manufacturers' Association (TMA), said: "We welcome the seizures by Border Force as this sends a clear message that tobacco smuggling will not be tolerated.
"However, due to the high level of tax on tobacco products, together with the ongoing difficult economic climate, criminals will continue to be incentivised.
"Until this cause is addressed, Border Force's task will remain challenging."
