Smuggling fags gang jailed

A gang caught smuggling more than one million cigarettes through the Black Country and evading around £250,000 in tax was today behind bars. A gang caught smuggling more than one million cigarettes through the Black Country and evading around £250,000 in tax was today behind bars. Part of the haul included 700,000 fake Embassy cigarettes seized from a van driven by Willenhall man David Locke near Hilton Park services on the M6. Also in the dock at Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday were Philip Costello, David Turner, Craig Street and Michael Bishop. Smethwick man John Sprigg escaped a jail term after admitting helping load the cigarettes. Customs also raided an industrial estate in Bilport Lane, Wednesbury, where they found 958,120 cigarettes.  Read the full story in the Express & Star.