THREE Ealing men were given prison sentences last week after smugglers tried to pass off illegal cigarettes as a load of frozen chickens.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) stopped a refrigerated lorry in May 2013 at business premises in Mitcham Road, Croydon, which had arrived in the country through Killingholme Port in North Lincolnshire.

The lorry’s load was declared as frozen chicken, but it was found to contain 1.2 million illegal cigarettes, worth an estimated £288,240 in lost revenue.

HMRC officers said they searched the Ealing home and vehicle of one of the gang, Amjad Jassim, and discovered 315,950 cigarettes, 409kg of shisha tobacco and 365kg of hand rolling tobacco - all contraband.

More than £92,550 in cash was also discovered hidden throughout the house in Hillcrest Road.

The uncovered tobacco - with a revenue loss of around £164,688 - was seized and the cash detained under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

Jassim, 44, was found guilty at the Old Bailey last Thursday, October 1, where he was sentenced to two years in prison suspended for two years and ordered to carry out 100 hours unpaid work.

A further 2,460 non-UK duty paid cigarettes were seized from the Northolt home of a 32-year-old Polish national Mariusz Dudek. Dudek, of Castle Road, was sentenced to three years and six months in prison.

Miroslaw Rogalksi, a 53-year-old Polish national of Popes Lane, Ealing, was also found guilty of offences under the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 and the Criminal Law Act 1977. He was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison.

David Margree, assistant director at Fraud Investigation Service HMRC, said: “This was a highly organised and professional tobacco smuggling plot designed to steal money from the public and undermine honest shopkeepers, with a sole purpose of lining their own pockets.

“These individuals went to great lengths to hide their illegal activity and thought that by lying their crime would have gone undetected.

“They were mistaken and will now have time to reflect on their criminal actions.

“HMRC is determined to disrupt this criminal trade which costs the UK around £2.1 billion a year.”

Officers said confiscation proceedings to recover proceeds of crime were underway.

Anyone with information about the smuggling, distribution or sale of illicit cigarettes or tobacco is asked to contact the Customs’ Hotline on 0800 59 5000.