Smuggled cigarettes with an estimated street value of more than €3 million were seized by Customs officers at Dublin Port yesterday morning.
Some 7.2 million Marlboro brand cigarettes were discovered by officers who intercepted and inspected a container which had arrived from Spain via Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
A Customs spokeswoman said the haul was located as a result of risk profiling. The cigarettes had been hidden inside a 40-foot container which was said to be carrying “office furniture”.
The spokeswoman said the cigarettes, if sold on the black market, would have resulted in €2.4 million in lost revenue to the exchequer.
An investigation into the matter was ongoing, she said.
It is estimated that cigarette smuggling costs the exchequer at least €400 million a year. Last year, Customs officers seized a total of 218 million cigarettes valued at more than €218 million, up 60 per cent on the previous year.