A number of cases for illegal cigarette selling were dropped yesterday after evidence was stolen from customs officers' lockers.
The Revenue Commissioners had taken cases against street sellers following seizures between last November and February in Dublin city centre.
However, Dublin District Court was told the evidence was missing in some cases after lockers at a warehouse at Castleforbes Road had been "tampered with".
A solicitor for the Revenue Commissioners, Ms Mary Kiely, said, under the Finance Act 1997, it was no longer necessary to scientifically prove the substance was tobacco.
However, Judge Murrough Connellan said there was a doubt about the evidence and he dismissed the case against Mr John Fitzpatrick, of Oliver Bond, Dublin, who was charged with offering cigarettes for sale without tax stamps in O'Connell Street on December 11th.
Judge Connellan's decision led to seven other cases being dropped. In 12 other cases, the court had to hear evidence from a microscopic analyst that the samples seized were tobacco. In two of those cases, the court was told the lockers had been tampered with but the cigarette samples were intact.
Thomas O'Brien, of Summerhill, Dublin, and Karl Fitzgerald, of Gloucester Place, Dublin, were fined £1,000 each in their absence.
Declan O'Brien, of Lower Dominick Street, Dublin, was fined £500 for offering a packet of 20 cigarettes for sale at Henry Street on December 12th. Clive Caffrey, of Ashington Mews, Navan Road, Dublin, who was apprehended offering tobacco for sale on three occasions in the city centre between December and February, was fined £3,000 in his absence.
Vicky Mangan, of Summerhill, Dublin, who ran from a customs officer after the seizure of 100 cigarettes at North Earl Street on November 21st, was fined £1,000 in her absence.
Mary Wheloch, of Mountainview Court, Dublin, was fined £1,000 in her absence for offering tobacco for sale at Henry Street on December 12th, and Thomas Murphy, of Summerhill, was fined £1,000 for illegal trading on North Earl Street on November 23rd.
Gerard Gunnery, of Summer hill, was fined £2,000 after two seizures in the city centre between November and December. Mandy Staunton, of St Michan's House, Dublin, was fined £1,000 in her absence for trading in Henry Street on December 6th.
Denis Brennan, of Poplar Row, Ballybough, Dublin; Gavin Crosbie, of Dunnes Street, Dublin; and Thomas Murphy, of Summerhill, were fined £1,000 each.
The defendants have 30 days to pay the fines or face 90 days in jail on each £1,000 fine. The seized tobacco was ordered to be destroyed. In 16 other cases, the defendants appeared in court and were granted free legal aid with their cases put back to October 15th.