From: Express & Echo
The £3m of cigarettes washed onto an East Devon beach will be incinerated and converted into energy to produce electricity, it has been announced today.
Police and East Devon District Council staff assisted coastguards with a 14-hour recovery operation of a £3m haul of cigarettes which washed up on Seaton beach after toppling off a Danish cargo ship on Valentine’s Day.
The container carrying around 14 tonnes of Lark cigarettes was discovered on the shoreline near Axmouth Harbour by a member of the public at around 8.10am on Sunday, February 23.
At the request of the owner of the cigarettes, HM Revenue and Customs officials are now arranging for the haul to be incinerated at a specialist plant connected to a power station which will convert the energy produced into electricity.
Maritime Coastguard Agency officials confirmed that the load of an estimated 11 million cigarettes, some of which were strewn across the pebbles, was lost overboard from a Danish cargo ship during storms in the Bay of Biscay.
The 40ft long box was just one of 517 washed off the ship during storms
