TWO men involved in evading around £300,000 worth of duty in a nationwide counterfeit tobacco plot based in Bishop's Waltham were caught after police stopped a van at a motorway service area.

Cheng He, from East Sussex, and Zhling Huang had pleaded guilty earlier this month to keeping goods on which duty had not been paid with intent to defraud HM Revenue and Customs.

And at Warwick Crown Court, following an adjournment for reports to be prepared on them, He, 36, of North Street, St Leonards-on-Sea, was jailed for 22 months.

But Huang, 42, of St Marks Road, Derby, had his 18-month prison sentence suspended for two years and was ordered to carry out 275 hours of unpaid work.

Prosecutor Steven Bailey said that in November 2014 the police stopped a van at Warwick Services on the M40, and in it they found 596 kilos of hand-rolling tobacco.

The driver, who has not been charged, and passenger Song He from Glasgow, who has since absconded and has a warrant out for his arrest, were arrested.

Details they gave led officers to Trinder House Business Park in Bishop's Waltham, near Southampton, where in two containers they found 962 kilos of tobacco and some processing equipment.

Behind a partition in one container were some basic living arrangements, and Cheng He’s DNA was found on a mug and a pair of gloves, while his blood was found on a duvet.

Meanwhile officers in Warwickshire had been checking the van’s sat-nav on which Huang’s address in Derby came up – and Song He’s phone had Huang’s number under ‘Derby’ among his contacts.

As a result, Huang’s home was raided in May last year, and 136 kilos of tobacco were found, together with processing equipment and counterfeit Golden Virginia pouches.

When he was interviewed Huang said he had taken delivery of the tobacco from someone called Tiger and was paid 1-2p a pouch to prepare it and pack it into pouches – but that as a side-line, he sold 10-20 pouches a day himself, without telling Tiger.

Mr Bailey said the tobacco in the containers represented £173,450 of duty evaded, and £25,399 for that at St Marks Road – but Huang admitted he had also received four earlier deliveries.

Cheng He claimed he had bought tobacco from a man called Dave, travelling by train to Botley, near Southampton, to collect it before selling it on the streets.

He claimed that there was only one occasion when he had stayed overnight in the container, when it had been too late for him to make the return journey to St Leonards.

He denied being involved in the processing operation – but abandoned that part-way through a ‘trial of issue’ at the court earlier this month.

Andrew Tucker, for He, said his previous convictions for copyright and false trademark offences had involved him selling fake DVDs.

At the time, as an asylum-seeker, he was surviving on tokens which could only be used at certain shops, but his expenses increased after his wife because seriously ill and he also began to help support a late friend’s family – and he gave way to the temptation to make some extra money.

Nicola Hornby, for Huang, said he was of previous good character, having come to the UK in 2001 as an asylum-seeker because of the persecution of Falun Gong followers in China, and is now a British citizen.

She said he had become involved because he was struggling to support his family, including a son at Cambridge University, on the working tax credit he was receiving at the time – but now runs a take-away with his wife, in which he works as the chef.

Sentencing, Judge Stephen Eyre QC said: “I accept in both your cases that you were in difficult financial circumstances, but many hundreds of thousands of people are in such circumstances and do not resort to breaking the law.”

Observing that it was Huang’s first offence and that he was a family man, was in work and had shown ‘genuine remorse,’ the judge said he was able to suspend his sentence.

But Judge Eyre told He: “I have to sentence you for a similar offence, but in your case you have previous convictions.

“I accept there is significant personal mitigation, but that is balanced by the fact that you came to this country seeking asylum, and in 2014 your application was rejected. You have, accordingly, no right to be in this country.

“You were receiving money from the taxpayer to pay for your well-being, yet you engaged in this offending, depriving the taxpayers of money they should have had."