Anti-Mafia cops arrest UK grocer in probe on £40m smuggling ring

A GROCERY store owner has been arrested on suspicion of masterminding a £40million international cigarette smuggling network.

- BY TOM PETTIFOR Crime Editor

Hasan Ferhat Baybasin, 34, was held as part of a huge operation spanning five countries led by the Anti-Mafia Investigative Directorate in Italy.

Officers seized over 40 tons of illegal cigarettes worth around £40m along with assets worth over £2m.

Baybasin, from Edgware, North London, appeared at Westminster magistrates court on Thursday alongside co-defendant Cagdas Duran, 37.

The pair, both directors of the Target Food Store in Radford, Nottingham, were remanded in custody to face extradition proceedings.

A judge in Genoa, Italy, ordered their pretrial detention along with three other alleged gang members held in Italy and Poland.