TWO COUNTERFEIT cigarette sellers have been jailed after more than half a million cigarettes were found by customs officers.

Haji Saedi, 48, and Mohammed Kashif, 39, were sent to prison yesterday after appearing at Isleworth Crown Court.

In March and July 2009, officers from HM Revenue and Customs officers searched premises and vehicles in Northolt, Southall, Acton and North Finchley finding 535,000 fake cigarettes and more than £16,000 in cash.

Shop worker Saedi was living at the North Finchley address at the time.

Former taxi driver Kashif is from Northolt in Ealing. They are both Afghani nationals.

Most of the cigarettes were stored in Southall and then moved to different parts of London.

The pair sold boxes of 200 for between £12 and £25 selling to shopkeepers in London, evading over £95,000 in excise duty.

They were charged with harbouring cigarettes, when duty hadn’t been paid.

Stuart Crookshank Assistant Director HMRC said: “HMRC takes the smuggling of cigarettes, particularly counterfeit ones very seriously.

“These people do not care about the damage they cause by undercutting honest retailers and we will continue to work closely with other law enforcement agencies to root these criminals out. This sentence will act as a deterrent to others.”