A YOUNG Blackpool girl is at the centre of a smuggling investigation this week after she was discovered trying to illegally bring thousands of cigarettes into the country in the early hours of Tuesday morning (February 13).

The 14-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was stopped by Customs and Excise officials at Cardiff International Airport at around 2am as she disembarked from a flight from Las Palmas in the Canary Islands.

Officials discovered a total of 10,000 cigarettes hidden in her suitcase.

The news follows the revelation that four people walked free from Blackpool Airport after almost 75,000 cigarettes they were carrying were seized after flying from Tenerife, also on Tuesday.

Claire Morgans from Cardiff Customs and Excise, said suspicion was raised when the girl was spotted walking around by herself. She said: "The police stopped her and thought her suitcases looked suspicious. One of our officers went down and opened the cases and found they contained a total of 10,000 cigarettes -- and very little else.

"It was clearly a smuggling attempt and it was the first time such a young girl has been caught smuggling here, possibly anywhere." A South Wales Police official said they were concerned because the girl told officials her mother was flying on a separate flight to Birmingham International Airport.

A spokesman from West Midlands Customs and Excise said: "If the girl's mother did land at Birmingham we did not intercept her."

And Bill O'Leary from North West Customs and Excise said: "We have the mother's name and address and officials will be investigating how the girl came to be alone and in possession of such a large amount of cigarettes.

"I think this demonstrates the lengths smugglers will go to and that they are happy to involve young children to get what they want -- it is very worrying."