The Customs Department yesterday made one of its biggest hauls of counterfeit cigarettes when 13.7 million were seized at the Freeport.

The Marlboro cigarettes, packed in two containers which according to the bills of lading were on their way from China to North Africa, were hidden under toilet rolls.

A spokesman for the Customs Department said the estimated value of the cigarettes, including excise, would top Lm1 million.

The spokesman said the cigarettes were in transit and probably were not destined for the local market.

They will be destroyed once investigations are completed.

The investigation into this case had been going on for several weeks and was among the most complex ever undertaken by the department, according to Customs.

The ship which carried the cigarettes had containers for both the domestic and the international market.

Several were shortlisted to be checked and two were scanned by the vehicle and container inspection system that is capable of producing a picture showing different shades, indicating different types of cargo.

It was at this stage that the Customs officers decided to open the 13-metre-long containers which, according to the shipping document accompanying them, should have contained 1,860 boxes of toilet rolls.

The spokesman said that at first sight, everything seemed in order and all the officers found were boxes of toilet paper. But as they searched deeper inside the boxes, the cigarettes came to light.

In all, Customs seized 1,374 boxes of cigarettes, each containing 10,000 Marlboro Red cigarettes which were found to be counterfeit.

The containers also carried 460 boxes of toilet paper, with 40 rolls each.