A High Wycombe man who was part of a criminal gang that smuggled more than 14 million cigarettes into the UK inside boxes of fruit and vegetables has been given a suspended jail sentence.

The 51-year-old was given a 20-month suspended sentence and told to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work after admitting being part of a three-man gang which aimed to ‘flood the UK with illegal cigarettes’, avoiding paying more than £3 million.

According to HM Revenue and Customs, High Wycombe resident Ashiquir Rohman Ali’s job was to repackage the cigarettes into laundry bags before they were collected by ‘customers’ and delivered to addresses in the Midlands.

The gang were arrested in May 2012 after it was discovered that they had been shipping cigarettes from Dubai through East Africa into the UK.

John Cooper, assistant director, Criminal Investigation, HMRC, said: “This was a major investigation into the exploits of three criminals attempting to flood the UK with illicit cigarettes.

“These men abused their position of trust as approved importers to steal millions of pounds from law-abiding taxpayers – money which should have gone into funding the UK’s vital public services.

“They thought their set-up was undetectable, but they were wrong and our investigation has led to them being brought to account.”

The group was led by Feroz Batliwala, who has a property in London. He was said to be orchestrating the purchase, shipping and delivery of the cigarettes from his home in Dubai to East Africa.

Krishan Solanki accepted the goods into the UK and managed the warehouse operation. Deliveries were made to a warehouse in Uxbridge where the smuggled cigarettes were then removed. The fruit and vegetables were then cleared for onwards delivery.

HMRC investigators uncovered the smuggling ring after working closely with UK Border Force and the Serious Organised Crime Agency (now the National Crime Agency).

Confiscation proceedings to reclaim the criminal profits are under way, HMRC say.