The bit that amuses me about some of the responses on here are that they are made by the very people who probably "bent the rules" bringing back goodies from outside the EU - it wasn't that long ago that the limit was £100 of other goodies be it Webers, steaks, lawn mowers, car exhausts, sunglasses, jeans, CDs etc etc etc regardless of whether they from a BX or not. And if I remember correctly the operating crew allowance was zero!
This incident has been made to sound worse because it is ciggies as well as a bit (by the sounds of it) of artistic licence by the Sun. Would the Sun have been interested if it had been routine stuff (i.e not ciggies / alcohol) bought back following an exercise in the States. I doubt it.
A couple of chancers pushed their luck, got caught, and if found guilty will get due punishment. Where it will hurt is if HMRC now do a full Red/Green channel on all returning flights.