Six million cigarettes with a street value of €2.2 million have been seized from a truck in Rosslare port.
The Revenue’s Customs Service said the haul would have lead to a potential loss to the Exchequer of €1.65 million.
The consignment of L&M and Regal brand cigarettes was described as fruit and vegetables in an attempt to evade detection, a Customs spokeswoman said. "They were hidden among lettuce and tomatoes," she added.
The lorry and trailer, which arrived by ferry from Cherbourg, France on Saturday, were seized. The load is believed to have originated in Spain.
The driver of the lorry has been questioned and released and no arrests have been made, the spokeswoman added. She said the contraband was discovered as a result of risk profiling by Customs officials.
According to statistics compiled by the Revenue there was a total of 6,229 separate seizures of cigarettes in the first seven months of 2008. This amounted to a total 81,384,482 cigarettes.
In the seven months to July last, there were 691 seizures of tobacco, which amounted to a total 1,964 kilograms of roll-your-own tobacco.
One of the biggest recent hauls took place in May when cigarettes with a street value of €11 million were seized by Customs officers in Dublin Port. The cigarettes had arrived from Singapore via Le Harve in France in a total of four 40-foot containers.
The containers, which were under surveillance, moved to locations in both Northern Ireland and the Republic before being seized simultaneously at three separate premises in Co Louth and Co Meath.
