TOBACCO worth £230,000 was seized after customs officials raided a house in Nelson.

The officers recovered 595kg of hand-rolling tobacco and 195,000 cigarettes. They also seized around £50,000 in cash and a vehicle.

No one has been arrested and inquiries are ongoing.

The UK Border Agency raid came after weeks of intelligence gathering into cigarettes being smuggled into the country.

Officers said that a large proportion of smuggled cigarettes they deal with are counterfeit.

Linda Paul, for the UKBA Border Force North, said: "The street value of the tobacco alone was £230,000, so this was a very significant raid.

"This exercise is an example of the action we take across the region involving deliberate and organised attempts to defraud both the Revenue and the public.

"The illicit tobacco market allows low-level criminality to gain a foothold in the community and funds serious organised crime, including the drugs trade.

"Suppliers of smuggled and counterfeit cigarettes are often large international criminal gangs making huge profits.

"We work with HM Revenue and Customs, police, trading standards and other law enforcement agencies to combine resources, share intelligence and demonstrate how joint working can help protect the public and honest shopkeepers from illegal competition, by removing these illicit goods from the supply chain."

She said that up to 19 per cent of cigarettes smoked in the UK are illicit - either smuggled or counterfeit and often both.

It is a criminal offence to buy or sell cigarettes, other tobacco products or alcohol which do not bear the required markings and on which the proper excise duty has not been paid.

The raid took place on Monday afternoon but officers have not revealed where the operation took place in Nelson.

Anyone with information about activities which may be linked to smuggling is asked to contact the Customs 24 hour hotline 0800 59 5000.