RESEARCH teams at three universities will investigate the region's booming smuggled cigarettes trade.

The region is said to be the centre of a multi-million pound trade in smuggled and counterfeit cigarettes, which often affects deprived areas.

Academics at Durham, Northumbria and Newcastle universities have been given funds for a project researching every aspect of the cigarette-smuggling industry, including its impact on people's health.

The North-East has some of the highest levels of smoking in the UK, and health officials believe the illicit trade is making things worse.

Smoking is the biggest preventable cause of illness and pre- By Barry Nelson Health Editor barry.nelson@nne.co.uk mature death in the UK, yet efforts to encourage smokers to quit, and to discourage children and young people from starting to smoke, are being frustrated by smuggled cigarettes.

There are particular concerns that deprived communities are being targeted by criminal gangs offering illegal products, sometimes at less than half the price of ones bought in shops.

Using detailed records obtained through an early project funded by the European Union, the project, led by Durham University, aims to increase understanding of how this damaging trade is organised and run.

Researchers want to identify types of smuggling, the gangs that carry it out and the kind of people they supply.

Anthropologist Dr Andrew Russell, who is leading the Durham team, said: "The research will help health promotion workers to better target their campaigns on this topic and HM Revenue and Customs to better target their efforts to prevent illegal shipments coming into the country."

Cigarette smuggling costs the Treasury more than £3bn a year in lost revenue and has a massive impact on people's health, because smokers have less incentive to stop if they can buy cheap cigarettes.

More than half of all smuggled packs are thought to be counterfeit branded cigarettes made in China and Eastern Europe.

They have particularly high levels of heavy metals and tars and are more hazardous than ordinary cigarettes.