A TRIAL of a man accused of being involved in a cigarette smuggling scam has been postponed after he was injured in a shoot out in Afghanistan.Colin Berry of Dale Close, Stanway, was due to stand trial next Monday at Chelmsford Crown Court for his alleged involvement in the scandal.

A TRIAL of a man accused of being involved in a cigarette smuggling scam has been postponed after he was injured in a shoot out in Afghanistan.

Colin Berry of Dale Close, Stanway, was due to stand trial next Monday at Chelmsford Crown Court for his alleged involvement in the scandal.

The 38-year-old was arrested after a seven month undercover surveillance operation headed by customs in Ipswich, in which officers swooped on Deben Freight Ltd based at Anglia Airpack in Rendlesham.

The operation which took place in December 2000 followed an investigation that revealed seven million cigarettes had been smuggled through Felixstowe.

Last Thursday the Evening Star reported how Berry had been involved in an exchange of fire while caught in an argument over a business deal in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

It happened at the Hotel Intercontinental where Berry was understood to be protecting a US national and his Afghan wife.

He was believed to have suffered minor injuries in the crossfire together with the US national who was sitting nearby during the incident on February 26.

A provisional day for Berry's trial had been set to take place next Monday but that date has now been vacated until he is brought back to Britain.