London, January 31:

A new wave of cigarette smuggling is hitting the United Kingdom, with counterfeit brands ma-nufactured abroad destined for sale in shops and on street corners, Sir David Varney, the he-ad of the Revenue and Customs, said.

The threat comes after customs officers sm-ashed a racket involved British-made cigarettes being exported to places like Andorra and Kaliningrad, Russia, then sm-uggled back. Sir David said that Britain now faced ‘a new threat’ from counterfeit cigarettes as smugglers turned to th-em following the clampdown on the illegal sale of genuine cigarettes.