FIVE Notts men have been jailed in connection with a £26 million tobacco-smuggling operation.
A gang of eight men flooded the north of England with more than 150 million cigarettes.
They created a distribution network which transported the cigarettes to warehouses, storage yards and farms, which were then broken down in to smaller loads and sold on the black market.
The men were arrested in early 2011 as part of a HM Revenue and Customs investigation codenamed Operation Hornbeam.
HM Revenue and Customs officers uncovered the gang's "safe house" – discovering large amounts of cash and customer order books in an under-floor safe.
The organisation has now been able to reveal full details about the investigation after sentencing took place at Derby Crown Court.
Samual Jeffrey Tomlinson, 26, of Grove Coach Road, Retford, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to evade excise duty and was jailed for ten months.
Ben Phillip Kirk, 27, of Windsor Road, Retford, was pleaded guilty to conspiracy to evade excise duty. He was jailed for five months.
Jonathan Ellis, 24, of Century Road, Retford, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to evade excise duty and received a 20-month jail sentence.
Peter Lawrence, 23, of Claters Close, Retford, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to evade excise duty. He was jailed for six months.
William Bowie Tomlinson, 29, of Lifton Avenue, Retford, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to evade excise duty and was jailed for three years and eight months in November 2012.