Nottingham grocery store owner 'masterminded £40m cigarette smuggling network'

EXCLUSIVE: Nottingham grocery store owner 'masterminded £40m cigarette smuggling network'Hasan Ferhat Baybasin has been arrested as part of an international anti-mafia investigation into a vast network of tobacco smugglers moving huge illegal shipments around the worldNewsTom Pettifor Crime Editor20:02, 05 Apr 2026View 7 ImagesHasan Ferhat Baybasin appeared in court last week(Image: Europol)The owner of a Nottingham grocery store has been arrested on suspicion of masterminding a £40million international cigarette smuggling network.Hasan Ferhat Baybasin, 34, was held as part of a huge operation spanning five countries led by the Anti-Mafia Investigative Directorate (DIA) in Italy. Officers seized over 40 tonnes of illegal cigarettes worth around £40m along with assets worth over £2million.Baybasin, from Edgware, north London, appeared at Westminster Magistrates' court on Thursday alongside codefendant Cagdas Duran, 37. The defendants, who are both directors of the Target Food Store on Alfreton Road in Radford, Nottingham, were remanded in custody to face extradition proceedings.View 7 ImagesHasan Ferhat Baybasin (left) and Cagdas Duran(Image: Europol)A judge in Genoa, Italy, ordered the pre-trial detention of the pair along with three other alleged gang members held in Italy and Poland. According to the European Public Prosecutor's Office, the cigarette smugglers used a number of complex maritime routes to evade customs.View 7 ImagesTheir shop in Nottingham(Image: Google Maps)The cargo originated in Armenia, going through Dubai and on to Spain before entering Italy at the port of Genoa. Other routes passed through Georgia, Kenya, the Netherlands and Turkey, as the gang attempted to conceal the true origin of the illegal goods.The organisation had established a network of accomplices across the world, and the cigarettes were destined for the black market in the UK and other European nations.View 7 ImagesItalian law enforcement seize the illegal car...