Two plain-clothes officers armed with a warrant knocked on his door.

They suspected he had tobacco in the house.

Stunned David had 3,200 cigs and 3.2kg of tobacco — brought back from abroad by pals for his personal use.

The 48-year-old, who doesn’t even own a passport, said: “I told them I did have tobacco, and they made a note of everything I had.”

David had 3,000 cigarettes, 1kg of Old Holborn, 2kg of Drum tobacco and 0.2kg of Golden Virginia.

The Customs men then asked to search his BMW parked outside and found 400 Benson and Hedges in the boot.

Helicopter firm worker David, of Tintinhull, Somerset, said: “They accused me of selling the stuff from my door.

“They then said ‘We aren’t going to charge you with anything so your job will be safe, but we’re taking your car’.

“As they left, one said ‘Would you like your car back?’ When I said yes he said he’d put the wheels in motion.

“Ten minutes later two more men arrived. One of them said ‘If you give me one name and we get a result you can have your car back."

David’s appeal against the seizure of his £6,500 J-reg BMW was rejected.

David, who has since bought a new BMW, said: “The powers these people have are frightening.”

BOOZE cruiser Darren Myers got a parking and speeding ticket — for a confiscated van Customs said they were going to crush.

Darren, 33, from Leeds, was nabbed in Calais.

But his Toyota van was sold and its new owner racked up the fines — which Darren didn’t pay.

By ANDY WILKS

AN ILLEGAL trader openly sold bootleg cigarettes to a Sun reporter on a London street yesterday — untroubled by Customs officers.

The East European approached hundreds of passers-by outside White-chapel tube station, saying “Cigarettes, cigarettes.”

He is one of dozens doing a roaring trade flogging top brands for £2.50 a packet.

They carry on virtually untouched while thousands of booze-cruisers have their ciggies, alcohol — and even vehicles — seized at ports.

The man at Whitechapel is pictured left selling our reporter 20 Benson and Hedges and 20 Rothmans for just £5.

Buying them at the law-abiding newsagent’s just yards away would have set us back £9.10 — nearly twice as much.

We watched the illegal street trader for another 30 minutes — and saw him serve 33 more customers.

Occasionally he would restock his bag from boxes of 200 cigarettes stashed in a van.Newsagent Dilip Patel, 39, has seen business plummet as the traders operate nearby.

He said: “There can be up to 15 sellers here. I phone Customs but they don’t do anything. They only seem interested inbooze-cruisers.”

A Customs source said many of the traders were illegal immigrants waiting for asylum claims to be processed.

And he said they were part of organised gangs who smuggled in the ciggies before selling them to the public.

The Sun is exposing how easy it is for the gangs to operate as part of our Hands Off Our Booze Cruises campaign.

We are determined to stop Customs men picking on cross-Channel shoppers while real crooks operate unhindered.

Businessman Nick Parkin, 33, said the booming trade in bootleg ciggies showed Customs did not have the courage to tackle genuine criminals.

Nick, of Howden, East Yorks, had three vans confiscated during a cross-Channel trip for staff. He said: “Day-trippers are easy pickings.”

Customs said a “dedicated task force” was tackling the illegal trade in cigarettes. A spokesman added: “We deploy more officers on this problem than passenger smuggling.”

BOOZE cruise-ader David Ash joined The Sun on a shopping trip to France yesterday and vowed: “We will win this campaign.”

The 44-year-old businessman has fought the customs bullies for nearly two years through ACCESS — his Action for Casualties of Customs and Excise Shoppers’ Seizures.

He has championed the cause of more than 3,000 day-trippers who have fallen victim to over-zealous officials acting outside the law.

Sitting in his favourite cafe in Calais, he said: “Now The Sun has taken up our cause it is only a matter of time until we win.”

David, from Stoke Newington, London, says Government policy is ruining day trips to France.

He said: “European laws are clear. You can bring back unlimited amounts of tobacco, cigarettes and alcohol. Customs are trying to impose their own limits to stop people bringing in large amounts to sell at a profit.

“But in doing so they unlawfully target innocent shoppers.

“My campaign fights for the right to shop on the continent without fear.”

David, who runs a cleaning firm, has not been targeted by customs but says more than 50,000 people each month log on to his website http://www.day-tripper.net/ to find out what legal rights they have.

David said: “What is extremely worrying is that they can seize people’s cars and there is nothing the victim can do to fight back.

“We want Brits to be as free as Germans or the French. We are not being treated equally by our own customs officers.”