Customs staff said it was a sophisticated operation

McCaffrey claimed that only £23,000 of the cash was his with the rest belonging to his Russian business associates.

He admitted the smuggling charge at an earlier court appearance, and sentence had been deferred for reports.

A second accused Robert Murchie, 35, from, Airdrie was sentenced to 200 hours community service for being caught with 50,000 of the cigarettes.

He was intending to sell them on in pubs and clubs in the west of Scotland and evade paying over £6000 worth of duty.

'Honest taxpayers'

The convictions follow the trial from last month of 39-year-old former police officer James Jardine, of Baillieston, Glasgow, who was found not proven on the same charges.

On Tuesday, judge Lord Dawson said McCaffrey had been a major player in a well prepared plan to smuggle 2m cigarettes from Russia into Scotland and depriving the Exchequer of £250,000.

At the High Court in Glasgow, Lord Dawson said: "The plan to deprive honest taxpayers of this amount of revenue was only prevented by the dedicated efforts of the Customs and Excise officers who are to be praised in this long involved case."

The judge said that Murchie was a lesser player in the smuggling racket and sentenced him to carry out 200 hours community service.

International smuggling gang

Lord Dawson said he had planned to impose a heavy fine on McCaffrey on top of his jail sentence, but did not do so because of the moves by the Crown to confiscate the £115,000 found in his home.

After the sentence the Customs officer responsible for the case, Alan Dryden said: "This is not just the seizure of 6m cigarettes but the destruction of a much wider sophisticated international smuggling gang.

"It shows our determination to crack down on this serious criminal activity and disrupt the flow of illegal tobacco.

"The convictions were a triumph for Scots Customs investigators who smashed the smuggling scam after a major surveillance operation codenamed Operation Avon."