Six in court over cigarette racket

Six men have appeared in court charged with evading £4m in cigarette duty.

The defendants - three from Gloucestershire and three from the West Midlands - appeared before magistrates in Gloucester after police and Customs and Excise officials arrested nine people in raids across England on Tuesday.

They were detained and charged following an investigation in July and August into an alleged gang which smuggled 23 million cigarettes from China to the UK.

A Customs spokesman said £56,000 and 59,000 euros (£41,043) were seized from three premises during raids on Tuesday.

The six defendants are: Andrew Smith, 36, of Tewkesbury Road, Gloucester; George Grassick, 46, of Kings Norton, Birmingham; Andrew Middlecote, 32, of High Street, Cinderford, Gloucestershire; John Owens, 48, of Wolverhampton; Angelo Godlington, 42, of Quedgeley, Gloucester; Steven Horace White, 34, of Coseley, Bilston, Wolverhampton.

John Owens and Andrew Smith were remanded in custody for a week.

The other four accused were granted conditional bail until 17 December.

Two women, one aged 47 from Gloucester and another aged 60 from Wolverhampton, and a 59-year-old man from the West Midlands, have been released on police bail until January 2004.