Smugglers from Co Tyrone who brought millions of pounds worth of cigarettes into Northern Ireland have escaped prison, it was revealed today.

Aiden Francis Grew, 52, and Noel Abernethy, 39, were discovered at a Co Armagh address with almost 15 million cigarettes in a lorry and shed in November 2005. Henry McLaughlin, 44, was arrested in July 2006 in connection with the find.

They were handed suspended prison sentences at Armagh Crown Court for evasion of duty and stripped of £729,000.

DUP Assembly member Ian Paisley Jnr said: "This is a woefully inadequate sentence and the signal to criminals across Northern Ireland is that crime ultimately pays."

Grew from Benburb Street, Blackwatertown, and Abernethy from Glebe Mews, Dungannon, were discovered by police at Battleford Road, Co Armagh.

Grew was driving a white transit van away from the premises. Abernethy appeared to be directing a lorry driven by another man not in court.

A search subsequently revealed 4,999,920 smuggled cigarettes stacked on pallets in the lorry, and 10,434,620 smuggled cigarettes were recovered from one of the sheds.

McLaughlin, from the Derryvaren Road, Coalisland, was linked to the find following his 2006 arrest, when £65,000 cash was confiscated.

The trio pleaded guilty to smuggling almost five million cigarettes in the lorry into the UK and attempting to evade over £500,000 of duty.

They were also handed serious crime prevention orders preventing them from dealing in cigarettes in future.

Customs officer John Whiting said: "Today's result sends out a clear message to anyone tempted to smuggle illegal tobacco products.

"We will seek to recover any financial gain from those involved in excise fraud and will work with our partners in the Organised Crime Taskforce (OCTF) to stamp out the illegal trade in smuggled tobacco.

"Tobacco smuggling undermines public health by creating a cheap and unregulated supply operated by and for the benefit of criminals.

"Buying these cheap cigarettes means trading with criminals who are undermining honest retail business whose trade is damaged by smugglers undercutting them by evading tax."

Detective inspector Ian Montieth said today's sentence marked the end of a long-running investigation.

"Police believe this investigation will have a substantial impact on organised crime in the Armagh area.

"Officers remain determined to break up criminal gangs to prevent them from making profits through sales of illegal cigarettes and where possible to ensure that money obtained through criminal activity is seized."