Five members of a cigarette smuggling gang from Lancashire have been jailed.

The criminals brought cigarettes from Germany into the UK via Holland. Using wheelie bins to store them they even used a legitimate transport firm to ship the goods. Four more members of the group are awaiting sentencing.

They were uncovered by a police operation known as ‘Bittern’, which tracked smuggling rings in several European countries.

Detective Inspector Jo Edwards, who took part in the operation, said: “This should send a strong warning to people who think they can get away with illegitimately bringing cigarettes, or other goods, into the country. We will not tolerate it, you will be targeted and you will be brought to justice and put behind bars.”

Cigarette smuggling is one of the fastest growing forms of organised crime in Europe. It costs the UK an estimated £1.7 billion each year.

Gangs such as the Triads and the Mafia are reported to be involved in the trade. Last year it was reported that smugglers are using teenagers as ‘mules’ to carry large quantities of cigarettes between countries. They offer teenagers free holidays before sending them home with containers full of cigarettes. Last year two 15 year old girls from Durham narrowly avoided being jailed for bringing 200,000 cigarettes into the country.

In total the UK Border Agency has seized over 560 million illegal cigarettes, since the organisation was started in 2008.

Aside from its high cost, the illegal cigarette trade also poses a threat to people’s health. Smuggled cigarettes have been known to include rat poison. Kevin Sayer, a port manager at Felixstowe in Suffolk, the largest container port in the UK said: "you might be smoking rat poison or tobacco beetles, and there are very high levels of cadmium and mercury."

While these cigarettes are sold at a seemingly bargain price, they are usually low-quality at best. Smoking cessation programmes may be being affected by illegal cigarettes, because their low cost may make people less likely to quit smoking.