A READING man is beginning a two-year jail sentence after being caught in a car park with 300,000 illicit cigarettes.

Marek Prystupa, 42, of Gainsborough Road, was sent to prison at Luton Crown Court yesterday (June 10) after being found guilty of fraudulent evasion of excise duty.

He was jailed along with Aso Taha Ahmed, 31, from Tottenham, London, who had pleaded guilty to the same offence.

They were caught after an investigation by Revenue and Customs officers. 

The pair were spotted by HMRC officers meeting at a DIY store car park in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire in June 2014.

During a search of the van which Ahmed had driven into the car park, officers found 300,000 illicit cigarettes on which £71,831 duty had not been paid. The cigarettes were seized.