DUST and rat faeces could have been among the ingredients of illegal cigarettes sold on the streets of Bolton, health campaigners are warning.

Tens of thousands of counterfeit cigarettes are believed to have been sold by a gang of traders at car boot sales in the town.

As reported in The Bolton News on Saturday, the four men could have made as much as £400,000 from selling tobacco and cigarettes out of suitcases and laundry bags at Lever Street Market.

Now it has emerged that while many of the items were brought in from Turkey, the men also sold counterfeit cigarettes.

And smokers are being warned that the cigarettes contain nastier ingredients than their legal counterpart.

Deborah Arnott, chief executive of ASH, Action on Smoking and Health, said: “Counterfeit cigarettes contain all sorts of nasty substances, everyone knows cigarettes kill but do you want to smoke dust and rat faeces?

“The quality control on these counterfeit cigarettes is not good.

“Tobacco kills and smoking kills but what about all the other stuff people don’t know about?”

Counterfeit cigarettes can contain higher levels of the dangerous ingredients found in genuine products, like nicotine, and produce more harmful carbon monoxide, as well as include all sorts of extra products. HM Revenue and Customs officers seized nearly 47,000 cigarettes and almost 52 kilos of tobacco after searching the four men and their homes.

It is not known how many cigarettes the gang sold in the town but one member has admitted that they traded in fakes.

A HMRC source told The Bolton News: “In interview one of the guys told our investigators most of the cigarettes were from Turkey, but some were fake.”

The gang was secretly filmed selling the cheap products at Lever Street Market between March and July 2009, evading nearly £100,000 in excise duty.

Omar Mohammed, aged 36, of Roxalina Street, Great Lever, was the gang leader.

He was jailed for eight months, suspended for two years.

Market salesman Enver Batkitar, aged 29, of Crescent Road, Great Lever, received a seven month sentence, suspended for two years.

Shawkat Sidiq, aged 39, of Tildsley Street, Great Lever, another key organiser, was handed a 40 week jail term, suspended for two years, and Sabah Abdul Majid, aged 35, also of Crescent Road, received a seven month sentence, suspended for two years.

They were all ordered to complete 150 hours unpaid work and face a confiscation hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act.