The masterminds behind a major importation racket who tried to smuggle in millions of cigarettes through Dover have been jailed.

Joseph Maguire, 56, from Belfast, and Gary Taggart, 31, from Omagh, were behind two failed attempts to smuggle the non-duty paid cigarettes into the UK.

The duty and VAT evaded on the haul is £2.5 million.

Maguire and Taggart were caught by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) criminal investigators. Two other members of the gang have now also been sentenced.

John Cooper, assistant director of HMRC, said: “Maguire and Taggart were at the heart of a calculated attempt to flood the UK with millions of illegally smuggled cigarettes."

Boxes of cigarettes from the first 4.5 million consignment were already being loaded onto a hired van when HMRC officers raided a unit in Reading on 10 February 2011.

They arrested Thomas Troke, 31, of Iver, Bucks, and Clinton O’Connell, 55, from Reading. Taggart, the lorry driver who had brought the cigarettes into the UK in his trailer unit, had already left the scene.

The following day, Taggart was stopped by Border Force officers at Dover.

A search of his trailer revealed that his load, described as ‘foodstuffs’, was in fact eight million smuggled cigarettes, and he was arrested.

Further investigations by HMRC led them to Maguire. He was arrested on August 1 2011 as he arrived at Stansted Airport on a flight from Belfast.

Maguire and Taggart denied smuggling 12.5 million cigarettes in two separate consignments but were found guilty after a trial at Reading Crown Court.

Troke and O’Connell had pleaded guilty to their involvement in the first, 4.5 million smuggling attempt.

Maguire was sentenced at Reading Crown Court to five years imprisonment and Taggart to three years in prison. O’Connell was imprisoned for 21 months and Troke was jailed for 15 months.