About 1.3 million cigarettes with a retail value of £200,000 were seized at Dublin Port on Tuesday in a joint operation between the Customs National Drugs Team and the Revenue Mobile Service.
It is believed the cigarettes were destined for the street market. The Rothmans and L and M cigarettes were discovered on board the vessel MV Rotans, which had arrived from Riga in Latvia with a cargo of timber.
The cigarettes were discovered in cavities in the timber.
The captain and crew of the vessel have been questioned and the vessel placed under detention, pending further investigation.
This is the second recent major seizure of tobacco products. Four tonnes of tobacco with an estimated retail value of £750,000 were seized, also at Dublin Port, on July 14th.
On July 2nd, 91kg of contraband tobacco with a retail value of £13,000 was seized in north Dublin in a joint operation between i and customs. the Garda and Customs.
Figures from the Customs and Excise Anti-Fraud Unit reveal that, excluding Tuesday's seizure, there have been 70 seizures of cigarettes this year, with an estimated retail value of more than £700,000.
There have also been 30 seizures of roll-your-own and pipe tobacco valued at almost £800,000. If all this tobacco was sold on the street this year, the State would have lost more than £1 million in revenue.