MORE than 20 million counterfeit cigarettes have been seized by customs officers at Southampton docks.

Officers discovered two 40ft containers crammed with counterfeit Regal brand cigarettes that arrived by cargo vessel from China.

Some 10.8 million cigarettes were found in the first consignment and 10.5 million in the second. The amount of revenue evaded is estimated at £4.5 million.

The estimated high street retail price for this number of cigarettes is around £5.3 million. The seized cigarettes have seen been shredded and burned at a power station to help fuel the national grid.

Peter Avery, HM Revenue and Customs Assistant Director Criminal Investigation, said: "Southampton's biggest cigarette haul has prevented dangerous counterfeit cigarettes from reaching the UK's streets.

"Cigarette smugglers don't care about the damage they cause by undercutting honest retailers and tobacconists - or what health dangers lurk in unlicensed and unregulated tobacco. All smugglers care about is profit."

The discovery was made in December but details have only just been been released as a man has today been charged in connection with the discovery.

Lancashire businessman Guy Simpson, 52, of Heath Charnock, Chorley, Lancashire, will appear at Southampton Magistrates' Court on June 4 charged with being knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of any duty chargeable on the goods, contrary to Section 170(2) (a) of the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) 1979.

Anyone with information about illegal smuggling activities should call the Customs' Hotline on 0800 59 5000."