SIXTEEN people have been charged with plotting to steal millions of pounds worth of cigarettes from their employer at Gatwick.

The 15 men and one woman – including 11 from Sussex – were charged jointly with stealing duty free cigarettes worth a total of £2.4 million from Gate Gourmet, a business that supplies airlines at the airport.

They have been charged with conspiracy to steal from their employer and money laundering and have all been released on bail to appear at Crawley Magistrates' Court on May 6.

The charges follow a long-running investigation by Sussex Police into the large-scale theft of duty free items at Gatwick.

More than a dozen people were arrested in July 2013 in connection with the theft of hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of duty-free items.

More than 60 officers were involved in a series of raids with 14 men and one woman arrested and tens of thousands of pounds in cash, jewellery, watches, cigarettes, perfume and red diesel recovered from homes across Sussex, Surrey and Kent.

Bosses at airline service company Gate Gourmet alerted Sussex Police to suspected thefts after discovering irregularities with its stock control systems.

The people charged are Christopher Allen, 53, of Lansdowne Way, Angmering; William Ayling, 61, of Mayo Road, Brighton; Mindagas Baranauskas, 35, of no fixed address; Richard Beaumont, 59, of Edinburgh Close, Southwater; Pietro Bernone, 28, of Oakapple Close, Crawley; Durell Corbin, 48, of Home Close, Brixham, Devon; Keith Gosling, 57, of Ashurst Way, East Preston; Viktorija Gudonyte, 32, of Lavington Close, Crawley; Alan Hunt, 57, of Titmus Drive, Crawley; Cezary Kosobudzki, 50, of Cabourne Road, Grimsby; George Messenger, 56, of Hobbs Industrial Estate, Lingfield, Surrey; Gerald Monaghan, 51, of Woodfield Road, Crawley; Stewart Morris, 53, of Southwark Close, Crawley; Peter Simmonds, 50, of Montgomery Drive, Bognor; Karamjeet Singh, 53, of Richmond Road, Gillingham and William Webber, 49, of Salisbury Road, Crawley.

A further two people – a 39-year-old man from Crawley and a 32-year-old man from Crawley – are still on bail as part of the investigation.