Tobacco thieves have been ordered to pay back more than £185,000 of illegally-earned cash following a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing.

The gang, Mark Short, Adrian Love, Grzegorz Sikora, Neil Bradley and Adrian Baker, were sentenced in April 2019 after they were caught selling confiscated tobacco from a high-security incinerator plant in Sandwich.

They all worked at the site and took advantage of the access they had to cigarettes and tobacco seized by Border Force.

Instead of destroying it as instructed, they hid and sold the goods.

The group’s offending took place between 2016 and 2017 and was discovered by a site manager who noticed something suspicious and caught them on CCTV.

All were sentenced to between three and four years in prison, except Baker who got an eight-month sentence, suspended for 18 months.

Alongside their convictions, a financial review of their assets and criminal lifestyle was carried out by financial investigators at Kent Police.

Confiscation hearings were held at Canterbury Crown Court for all defendants between October 2020 and Tuesday last week (May 18).

As a result of these hearings:

Short, 58, previously of Singledge Lane, Whitfield, Dover, has been ordered ordered to pay back £136,000.

Love, 49, previously of Grenville Way, Broadstairs, has been ordered to pay back £33,971.

Sikora, 40, previously of Northdown Road, Cliftonville, has paid back £12,282.

"Kent Police do not stop at conviction. We will continue to use the full extent of the law." DI Annie Clayton

Bradley, 49, previously of St Augustine’s Road, Ramsgate, has paid back £2,950.

Baker, 51, previously of Bush Avenue, Ramsgate, has paid back a nominal amount of £1.

Failure to pay the funds could result in them being returned to prison.

Det Insp Annie Clayton said: ‘Kent Police do not stop at the point of conviction and we will continue to use the full extent of the law against those who are intent on committing crime.

"The Proceeds of Crime Act is a legislation we can use to claim back money that offenders have gained through criminal activity.

"The offences carried out by these individuals were fuelled by greed and they continue to pay the price for their wrongdoing."

Read more: All the latest news from Sandwich