FIVE people from Barnsley are due to be sentenced at Doncaster Crown Court tomorrow morning (16/7/10) for a counterfeit cigarette operation worth tens of thousands of pounds.

Worsbrough Dale residents Darren Remmington, aged 45, of Yews Lane, Danny Dougherty, 45, of Yews Avenue, and his sister-in-law Julie Dougherty, aged 54, from High Street, were arrested along with Noreen Turner, 64, from Hill Crest, Hoyland and Jennifer Saunders, 37, of Little Stubbing, Wombwell, following a lengthy inquiry – dubbed Operation Liquidate – by South Yorkshire Police’s Money Laundering Investigation Team.

Police seized more than 2.1 million cigarettes, some of which were counterfeit and some of which had been manufactured in the Baltic area specifically for smuggling markets, during the operation.

The cigarettes, proporting to be Jin Lings, Raquel, Super Kings and GB brands, are likely to have fetched between £20 and £30 per sleeve of 200 on the streets of Barnsley.

The SYP team began investigating during the summer of 2008 and the five were arrested following a series of lunchtime raids on 14 November that year.

Remmington and the Doughertys pleaded guilty to a number of offences, including the possession of cash believed to have been obtained through crime, before a trial at Sheffield Crown Court on 14 April, 2010.

Turner and Saunders, who faced charges surrounding the cigarettes, having £14,030 of cash contrary to the Proceeds of Crime Act and the possession of a Class A drug with intent to supply, were convicted following a trial lasting around three weeks. Turner was also found guilty of possession of a firearm and ammunition contrary to the Firearms Act.

Following tomorrow’s sentencing, the SYP team will also pursue confiscation proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act to ensure that offenders do not benefit from crime.