A MAN has been charged with evading more than £500,000 in excise duty and VAT after police seized duty free tobacco and counterfeit packaging.

The 29-year-old was arrested by officers who searched a property in Shettleston, Glasgow, following the discovery of fake packets, holograms and duty stamps for pouches of hand rolling tobacco at Manchester Airport.

HMRC officers discovered more fake goods in Shettleston and said the haul would be enough to package up around 3.5 tonnes of duty free tobacco.

HMRC investigator David Odd said: "We believe this packaging was used to create pouches of illegal, duty-free tobacco to be sold on the black market."