Two smugglers caught bringing nearly four million cigarettes through Newhaven ferry port have been jailed for a total of six and a half years.

Customs officers seized the haul when they searched a refrigerated trailer full of frozen pizza toppings.

They found 3,994,700 counterfeit Lambert and Butler cigarettes hidden under pallets in the vehicle, which had come from Dieppe.

Adrian Wilson and Paul Johnston, both from County Londonderry in Northern Ireland, pleaded guilty to evading £777,681 in duty at an earlier hearing on 16 April 2007.

Johnston, 41, was jailed for three and a half years.

Wilson, 36, got two years and nine months.

Pete Avery, a senior investigations officer for HM Revenue and Customs, said: "This is an excellent result for all honest traders who have to compete against smuggled goods.

"This illegal activity costs the taxpayer nearly £3 billion a year in lost revenue, money which if collected, could be funding schools, hospitals and other important public services.

"Tobacco smuggling undermines local retail businesses whose trade is damaged by those undercutting them by evading tax.

"Counterfeit cigarettes available on the black market are especially dangerous and may contain even higher concentrations of harmful substances than their genuine counterparts."