Couple’s holiday ruined after husband is mistaken for fugitive cigarette smuggler

A COUPLE’S holiday was ruined when the husband was mistaken for a fugitive cigarette smuggler.

Jim Colley, 57, planned to spend the week celebrating his retirement with wife Louise in a five-star hotel in Tunisia.

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But passport officials at the airport assumed Jim, full name James, was Brit runaway James Coyle.

Armed police stood by as they were told they would have to make an eight-hour round trip to a court in capital Tunis.

After spending £800 on lawyers and most of their holiday in the city, the case was dropped — only because the 2012 conviction was too long ago.

The judge let him go but still assumed Jim was the smuggler, who faced 50 days in prison.

Jim, from Newcastle, said: “It was absolutely terrifying.

"I’m never going anywhere near Tunisia ever again.”