SMUGGLERS were caught trafficking drugs, cigarettes and alcohol through the South West in a 24-hour operation near Swindon.

Lorries, vans and some cars were stopped by Wiltshire Police at junction 15 of the M4 and escorted to a nearby gritting depot.

There, teams of Customs intelligence, excise fraud and anti-smuggling officers searched vehicles with sniffer dogs and special x-ray scanners.

The crackdown, dubbed Operation Caper, was also carried out at four other locations in the region from 7am yesterday to 7am today, at the M4 at Bristol, the M5 at Tewkesbury, the M5 at Exeter and the A31 at Ringwood.

It was the largest operation of its kind ever undertaken in the South West, involving a total of 160 Customs officers and more than 100 motorway police officers from five different forces.

The officers' brief was to detect a variety of illegal activity, including checking safety faults, drivers' hours, documentation, road fuel offences and stolen goods.

But the main priority was to search for contraband tobacco, alcohol and drugs, which are regularly transported along the M4 by smugglers to dealers in the West.

Customs spokeswoman Shona Lowe said tobacco smuggling is the fastest growing market in organised crime.

"For the amount of money that can be made, it is now on a par with drug smuggling," she said. "It is becoming a huge problem and is costing the taxpayer billions of pounds.

"That is why the Government is making the penalties more severe anyone caught smuggling cigarettes can now get up to a seven year jail sentence.

"We have never done an exercise like this before on such a huge scale in the South West, but it is a key area, because the M4 cuts across England and is therefore a major trafficking route.

"We are very pleased with the way the operation has gone. There was great co-operation between customs officers and the police although the weather did cause us problems later on in the day."

As well as organised crime being targeted, the officers were keen to stop anyone hoping to stock up with huge amounts of cigarettes and alcohol for Christmas.

The liaison officer in charge of the 36 Wiltshire police officers at junction 15 was PC Chris Woodhouse.

He said: "Customs don't have enough manpower, vehicles or knowledge to do this alone, so we helped out in their operation.

"The main intention is to disrupt trafficking and seize goods, with a lesser emphasis on prosecuting offenders."

The results of the operation are expected to be announced later today.