Four men from Northern Ireland were arrested during the seizure of about two million smuggled cigarettes by gardaí last night when they raided a premises in Kingscourt Enterprise Centre, Co Cavan.
Some of those arrested are from south Armagh and sources confirmed the cigarettes are similar to those taken previously by dissident republicans.
The cigarettes were on pallets and stored in a unit rented in the Enterprise Centre.
They are not thought to have been part of the haul of three million cigarettes hijacked on the Louth/Down Border on Monday morning. The container and trailer were found abandoned that night with the cigarettes removed.
The container was on fire when it was discovered just outside Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, and two units of Carrickmacross fire brigade were called to the scene.
The driver of the lorry has been interviewed by gardaí.
The operation in Kingscourt took place just before 9 p.m. yesterday and involved gardaí from Monaghan assisted by officers from the units based in Dublin.
