A Selby shopkeeper has been fined £8,000 after being caught selling counterfeit cigarettes.

The rogue Benson & Hedges 20-packs were said to be almost identical to the real thing - apart from the taste and smell, which were more akin to "camel dung".

It is the first such case to be investigated by North Yorkshire Trading Standards, who warned that fake cigarette brands were flooding into the UK.

Karl Darley - who owns Basic Stores, in Market Cross, Selby - and his company, Tallysorts Ltd, admitted possessing or offering to supply almost 7,000 counterfeit cigarettes.

Selby magistrates heard the offences came to light accidentally. Trading standard officers happened to be working in the town and bought two packets of Benson & Hedges from Basic Stores.

But as soon as they lit up, they realised they were vastly inferior to the real thing - and told their bosses privately it was like smoking "camel dung".

Alex Lynn, prosecuting, said samples were sent to Benson & Hedges' manufacturers, Gallagher Ltd, who confirmed the tobacco and wrapping were counterfeit.

He said 52 packets were on sale in the Selby shop at £3.50 a packet, significantly less than the real price. Some 71 packets were found in the company's Barnsley store, and a further 210 packets in a nearby warehouse.

Mr Lynn said the rogue cigarettes were traced back to a small shop in Dorset, where a salvage broker bought them after the shop flooded.

He said: "These cigarettes are of unknown content and origin and we have no idea, without expensive analysis, whether there are any health risks.

"It also damages the reputation and trade of retailers who sell the genuine product."

Rodney Lester, mitigating, said the fake brand and the real thing were so alike, Darley had been deceived into believing they were genuine.

He said his client bought a consignment "blind" and had been "slipped a pup". It had been a salutary lesson for him.

Darley was also ordered to pay costs of £2,580.

Senior magistrate Jim Snowball said: "This is a high profile case and a matter of national concern.

"It's important that both consumers and manufacturers are protected from this sort of activity."

Stuart Benson, principal trading standards officer for York, said his officers had not come across this problem in York. "We have not had a case like this yet, but we are aware that it is becoming an increasing problem."

Updated: 15:46 Wednesday, April 24, 2002