Two brothers from Scunthorpe who attempted to evade £6.4m in excise duty by selling tax-free wine, beer and spirits intended for export have been jailed following an HMRC investigation.

Inderjit Singh Mangher and his brother, Amandeep, were caught as a result of a covert surveillance operation mounted after HMRC officers seized large quantities of wine, beer and bottles of spirit with counterfeit labels from a shop and an adjacent double garage connected to them.

The brothers were arrested at a second unit, where large stocks of illicit alcohol were uncovered. At the time, HMRC officers intercepted two large lorries being driven by the men, in one of which was 2,112 litres of Glen's vodka on which no duty had been paid.

Jo Tyler, HMRC assistant director, criminal investigation, said: 'This was alcohol duty fraud on a major scale, with huge quantities of wine, beer and spirits intended for export being diverted back into the UK. Our investigators found that the gang had crudely attempted to disguise their illegal activities by covering some of the genuine labels on the back of the bottles of vodka and whiskey with counterfeit ones.'

Inderjit Singh Mangher has been sentenced to four years in prison and his brother Amandeep Singh Mangher was jailed for 27 months.