SOME 30 million illegal cigarettes – the largest shipment of illegal cigarettes uncovered in the country this year – was seized by Customs officers in Co Louth yesterday.
The shipment, with an estimated street value of €12 million, was seized as part of a series of planned searches undertaken by Customs officials yesterday morning. While Revenue officials declined to comment on the investigation, it is understood that dissident republicans are suspected of being behind the consignment.
Yesterday’s shipment, which consisted of Regal and Superking cigarettes, was hidden inside large pallets of timber.
Sean Kelleher, assistant principal officer in charge of Revenue enforcement and anti-evasion in the Border region, said the discovery was “a very significant seizure in the ongoing battle to deter and detect illegal importation of cigarettes into this country”.
He said the shipment’s size suggested the Regal and Superking cigarettes would have been sold in the UK as well as Ireland. The cigarettes were brought by ship from Russia and off-loaded at Greenore Port in Co Louth.
The shipment was off-loaded on to articulated lorries which drove to a yard outside Dundalk.
The yard, which was connected to a business premises, was one of a number of locations searched by Customs officers yesterday morning. The owners of the yard are not believed to be involved in any way with the incident.
Dr Angie Brown, chairwoman of Ash Ireland, welcomed yesterday’s seizure, but said more needs to be done to tackle the “serious tobacco smuggling epidemic”.
“Additional personnel, technology, canine support and legislative changes are needed urgently to tackle the large-scale smugglers and the commuters to other jurisdictions who are taking large amounts of cheaper cigarettes into this jurisdiction all year round.”