THE RETRIAL of a Wroughton man and two others accused of tobacco smuggling has started at Maidstone Crown Court in Kent.

Abraham Smith, 52, of Hay Lane in Wroughton, Jazsef Gulyas and Nicholas Hever, were in all the dock following an investigation into a smuggling ring.

Smith denies one charge of duty evasion.

Gulyas, 70, of Manor Street, Steeton Hall, Wolverhamp-ton, was central to a massive bootlegging fraud involving the evasion of over £1.7m in customs duty, the court heard.

He denies five charges of duty evasion while Hever, 41, of Kyte Lodge, London Road, West Kingsdown, Kent, has pleaded guilty to three but not guilty to one.

The court was told that Hungarian-born Gulyas and his son Joseph, who has since died, ran a pottery store and vending machine businesses in Wolverhampton.

But prosecutor Peter Grieves-Smith said they were also involved in smuggling tobacco and cigarettes.

He told a jury at Maidstone Crown Court that it was not a victimless crime as the public was defrauded.

Mr Grieves-Smith said there were about seven separate seizures of tobacco between March 20 2001 and February 1 2003.

He said it was inevitable that there were other people, as well as the defendants, involved.

He said that on March 3 2001, almost 5.8m cigarettes were seized from a lorry transporting insulation boards at Dover port and the company due to receive the goods belonged to Gulyas.

The duty evaded was just under £800,000.

Three days later, 720,000 cigarettes were delivered to an address in West Kings-down.

Evidence pointed to the involvement of Gulyas and Smith and the duty evaded was just over £100,000.

Smith denies charges of duty evasion on 1,000kg of tobacco.

It is alleged to have been smuggled in drums of paraffin and seized at Clacket Lane services, Westerham, Kent, on November 11 2002.

The trial continues.

Catherine Turnbull