Welsh baritone Bryn Terfel is among those shortlisted for best male singer, alongside tenors Aleksandrs Antonenko, Piotr Beczala, Joseph Calleja, Jonas Kaufmann and bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni.
The cigarettes were being smuggled into the country from Poland, Latvia and Romania by Milian Matei, 38, of Bowthorpe Close, Northampton, Dmitrijs Smirnovs, 26, of Benton Road, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, and Aleksandrs Maculevics, 26, of Archer Road, also in Stevenage.