Video footage reveals the moment a smuggler realised he was going to be caught after being pulled over in Dover.

Panic can be heard in Thomas Coulton's voice as he told his companion "these are going to be all over us" in reference to Border Force officials who stopped him after arriving in the county on a ferry from France.

This is moment Coulton is pulled over

He had been attempting to smuggle two million cigarettes into the country - which would have evaded duty totalling £615,805.

He has now been jailed for two-and-a-half years following an investigation by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

Coulton, from Morecambe in Lancaster, owned Heysham-based Tommy’s Removals and Storage company and had travelled to Brittany in France with his employee Reece Fox, 20, to collect the contents of a house move.

But they had taken a detour to Tamines, in Belgium on their return to the UK to pick up the cigarettes, an investigation found.

They were stopped by Border Force at the Port of Dover’s Eastern Docks on February 27, 2019 after disembarking a ferry.

Officers searched the lorry and found two million counterfeit Mayfair cigarettes in the trailer.

Coulton, 42, and Fox, also from Morecambe, were arrested.

The duty evaded on the cigarettes was £615,805.

Coulton's own dashcam footage revealed the men’s panicked conversation and swearing as the lorry was pulled over, with Coulton heard to say: “These are going to be all over us. You just remember what we’ve said.”

Both men pleaded guilty to the evasion of excise duty at Maidstone Crown Court last September.

Today, at the same court, Coulton was sentenced to 30 months in jail and Fox was sentenced to 15 months in jail, suspended for 18 months.

Fox was also ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid work.

Tom Hunnisett, assistant director fraud investigation service of HMRC, said: "Cheap cigarettes come at a cost as they often fund organised crime and other illegal activity that causes real harm to our communities, such as drugs, guns and human trafficking.

"Smugglers are criminals who don’t care who they sell to including children.

"The trade in illicit cigarettes damages funding for essential public services and undermines legitimate traders including small, independent corner shops that serve local communities."