FOUR men arrested following a Customs and Excise swoop which uncovered more than three million smuggled cigarettes have been bailed pending further inquiries.

Officers discovered the haul -- with a value of around £750,000 -- in a warehouse at Abbey Village on the A675 between Blackburn and Bolton close to Brinscall and Withnell.

The cigarettes were in a unit at the former Abbey Mill in the village.

The men were taken to Leyland Police Station for questioning before being released on conditional bail until April 12.

The raid came just weeks after Customs and Excise officers seized £2.5million worth of cigarettes and cash in Accrington.

Four men, none of them local, have been charged with evading duty after cigarettes with an estimated street value of £532,000 were found stuffed inside steel tubes at an industrial unit.

The raids have been described by Customs officials as part of a continuing crackdown on smugglers.