Cartons containing over two million cigarettes were found by customs officers hidden behind a consignment of lemons on a lorry, Belfast Crown Court heard.
Mr David Hanna (29), a lorry driver, is accused of smuggling the cigarettes. The court was told yesterday they had been brought from Spain via Dover and were bound for Dublin.
Mr Hanna, from Kilhorne Court, Moneydarragh, Anna long, Co Down, said he thought the cigarettes were a load of broccoli for a Dublin fruit merchant. He denies smuggling.
He also claimed he had been ordered to collect the consignment by his transport manager at Cunningham International Ltd, to be delivered to Power's Fruit Ltd in Dublin.
Mr Stephen Fowler, prosecuting, said Mr Hanna's claims were "a cover for the defendant to go and pick up these cigarettes." The transport manager, Mr Thomas Davidson, made no request to Mr Hanna to pick up any consignment other than the lemons.
He added that the Dublin company knew nothing of the consignment and was not expecting any deliveries from Cunningham.
When Mr Hanna was stopped at Dover, said Mr Fowler, he produced documentation for a consignment of lemons and broccoli which he told customs he had collected in Spain. He said he loaded 12 pallets of lemons and then a dozen of broccoli.
But the court heard he also told officials he was asleep in his cab and did not see the loading of the second consignment.
The trial continues today.