A smuggling gang cheated the taxman out of more than £115,000 while trafficking nearly 500,000 cigarettes in Surrey.

One of the gang, Dominik Mrzyglod, 38, was jailed for four years after pleading guilty to fraud as well as a separate offence of smuggling 1.2million cigarettes inside table tops.

Abdul Faki, 52, was jailed for 18 months for his role in the scheme, while Sebastian Swiezy, 36, was spared jail, but ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work in the community.

Investigators from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) saw Mrzyglod and Swiezy suppling Faki with untaxed cigarettes at a car park in Dorking on December 16, 2015.

Officers arrested Faki, of Chandos Road, north London, at the scene and found 486,700 B&B cigarettes in the white van he was helping to load. Mrzyglod and Swiezy fled before officers could arrest them.

The next day, Mrzyglod was arrested at his home in Walton-on-Thames, while Swiezy, who fled the UK for Alicante in Spain, was arrested at Gatwick Airport in April 2016 as he arrived on a flight from Poland.

David Margree, assistant director of the HMRC’s fraud investigation service, said: “These criminals were aiming to undercut legitimate retailers in London and the Home Counties with this large quantity of smuggled cigarettes.”

Tobacco smuggling costs the UK about £2.4billion a year, he added.

Dominik Mrzyglod was jailed for four years on January 27 at Blackfriars Crown Court for tobacco and cigarette smuggling.

Abdul Faki was jailed for 18 months, and Sebastian Swiezy received a 12-month-jail term, suspended for two years, at Blackfriars Crown Court on Friday, June 9. Swiezy, of Hogsmill Way, Epsom must also complete 120 hours of unpaid work.