Richard David Curtis, 57, from Bawtry, South Yorkshire, was stopped at the Port of Dover in November 2013.
He failed to attend trial at Maidstone Crown Court in November 2016 and was found guilty of evading more than £1.3m in excise duty.
He was jailed for three years nine months in his absence.
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A total of  5,729,900 cigarettes were found hidden under boxes of chips in Curtis' HGV. He told customs officers in Dover he had spent the weekend in Belgium before collecting the food, and was unaware the lorry contained illicit cigarettes.
A warrant was issued for his arrest after he failed to appear at court.
Curtis has links to Doncaster, the South Yorkshire area and Nottinghamshire.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) are appealing for anyone who knows where he is to contact 0800 595 000.
Alan Tully, of the HMRC fraud unit, said: "Richard Curtis gambled with his liberty in a brazen bid to profit from smuggling illicit cigarettes into the UK.
"He lost and now he must face up to his crime and come forward to begin his time behind bars."
A lorry driver is on the run after being caught smuggling more than five-and-a-half million cigarettes into the UK under boxes of frozen chips.