Nine people are to stand trial in October after they denied a cigarettes tax fraud.

The eight men and one woman all pleaded not guilty to “conspiring to carry, remove, deposit or conceal goods with intent to defraud Her Majesty” between August 2 and September 15 last year.

It is alleged they dealt with cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco intending to defraud the Crown of tax payable on the goods.

They are Mohammed Zada, 37, Mustafa Zada, 30, and Mahdee Zada, 22, all of South Road, Norton; Ahmed Al-Shateri, 36, of Warwick Street, Ayresome, Middlesbrough; Karzan Hasan, 23, of Lorne Terrace, Sunderland; Dariusz Lodygovsky, 43, and Anna Kabata, 34, both of Grace Road, Tipton, Birmingham; Slawomir Paprocki, 38, of Kutno, Poland; and Lukasz Maziarka, 29, of no fixed address.

Paprocki, Maziarka, Lodygovsky and Kabata also denied a second charge of fraudulent evasion of duty.

They are accused of evading tax on 2,204,620 cigarettes between August 2 and 7 last year.

Judge Stephen Ashurst adjourned the case for a trial scheduled to start on October 1.

All were bailed except Paprocki, Maziarka and Lodygovsky who were remanded in custody.