A FORMER football club boss from Chorley who smuggled into the country £4.5 million worth of counterfeit cigarettes has been jailed.

Guy Simpson, who used to be chief executive of Southern League Premier Division, Halesowen Town, fraudulently evaded tax on 21,357,000 cigarettes.

The 52-year-old of Flag Lane, Heath Charnock, was charged following the discovery of fake Regal brand cigarettes by Customs officials in two cargo containers.

They were on board a ship which arrived in Southampton from China on December 13 last year.

Simpson was jailed at Southampton Crown Court for five-and-a-half years yesterday.

The cigarettes were packed into two 40ft containers.

A Customs spokesman said it was the largest cigarette haul ever uncovered in the port of Southampton.

Import documents suggested the consignment, which was wrapped in brown paper, contained exercise gym balls, customs said.

At an earlier hearing, the court was told that Simpson was in debt at the time of the offence.

A confiscation hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act will now also take place.

The seized cigarettes were subsequently shredded and burnt at a power station to help power the national grid.