CRIME does pay - at least for some animals at Marwell Zoo.

Creatures at the zoo near Winchester were given a free lunch courtesy of HM Customs and Excise after a raid on a lorry carrying illegal alcohol.

The lorry was stopped at Poole, Dorset, and officers uncovered a haul of 14,000 litres of vodka hidden in 200 crates of cabbages.

They estimate the duty evaded amounted to more than £140,000, with all the alcohol heading for black market traders.

But they were left with a problem - what to do with all the greenery?

The solution lay at Marwell where customs officials have sought help before when trying to home endangered animals smuggled illegally into the UK.

Yesterday the stash of cabbages was delivered to the zoo for the animals to enjoy, with the camels first to get their lips around the tasty foreign leaves.

A Marwell spokesman said: "As well as the camels, we found several other animals that enjoyed the cabbages including the kangaroos, the Arabian oryx and the macaques who ripped the cabbages to shreds."