Ten employees of the Imperial Tobacco factory in Petone were arrested in August. Four have now admitted theft.

Imperial Tobacco employees in Petone were stealing kilograms of tobacco and cigarettes every week, stuffed into black bags and stashed inside hollowed-out loaves of bread, a court has been told.

Ten staff at the factory, including two security guards, and a family member of an employee were arrested in August after much of the activity was caught on security cameras.

Four of the group have now admitted theft, and details of how they were able to smuggle so much out of the factory were revealed in the Hutt Valley District Court on Tuesday.

Terrence Andrew Whitcombe hollowed out a loaf of bread and filled it with three packets of cigarettes.

Mika Lemoe, 52, was stealing about eight kilograms of rolled tobacco a week. He usually gave half to his family and sold off the rest in 50-grams lots for $25 each. The same amount would be worth about $75 in a shop.

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In August, police found about 21 kilograms of tobacco, worth about $32,000, at his house as officers combed homes in the Hutt Valley and Porirua. He is accused of taking $45,000 worth.

JARED NICOLL/FAIRFAX NZ Details of how four of the employees were able to smuggle so much tobacco out of the factory were revealed in the Hutt Valley District Court on Tuesday.

He was caught on camera in July, carrying a large amount of tobacco into a room where it should not have been.

He carried some out in a large bag to the guardhouse, where a security guard unlocked a gate allowing him to leave without searching his bag.

Terrence Andrew Whitcombe, 32, worked in the tailor-made cigarette production area.

One afternoon in June, the cameras caught him hollowing out a loaf of bread into a plastic bag, putting in three packs of cigarettes, then stashing it in a locked steel cabinet not used for storing tobacco.

Later, "he had a black bag and is observed taking a false insert from the bag".

Whitcombe stuffed it with tobacco, adding about 100 packets from the production line into the cabinet, worth about $5000.

About 8am the next morning, he left with the bag, walking out past a security guard while the guard dealt with another worker.

Authorities executing a search warrant found about $975 worth of cigarettes at his home in August, and in the cabinet was about $4848 worth.

Sui Mano, 26, was working nightshift in June when he and two others were caught on camera taking a large amount of tobacco into a room where it should not have been, about 1am.

They were then seen carrying five or six sports bags over to the guardhouse.

A guard prepared the room by clearing a fridge out the way for them to pass the bags out through a window to the car park.

Mano placed bags into a car before two associates drove off and returned later.

Mano is accused of stealing $120,000 of tobacco, and said he was paid $10,000 for his part in the theft.

A fourth man, an unnamed security guard, has also admitted theft. He stands accused of stealing $120,000 worth of tobacco.

The four have all been remanded on bail, to reappear for sentencing next month.