600,000 cigarettes seized in Louth

Customs officers seized 600,000 cigarettes following a search in Co Louth today.

Customs officers seized 600,000 cigarettes following a search in Co Louth today.

The cigarettes were seized in Dromikin outside Dundalk.

Meanwhile, a PSNI officer remains in a serious but stable condition today after he was hit by a lorry yesterday during a Border operation against tobacco smuggling.

Another officer, who was less seriously injured, was discharged from hospital last night following the operation on the Armagh-Louth border.

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The officers, who were supporting a revenue and customs operation, were hurt when a van was driven at them at speed at a commercial warehouse on Low Road, outside the village of Meigh at 12.45pm yesterday.

About seven million cigarettes - worth more than £1 million - have been recovered. Officers are investigating a lorry which was lying on its side a short distance from the scene.

The officers where struck and carried for a distance along the isolated road which runs parallel to the nearby Belfast-Dublin railway. They had been investigating the scene when the vehicle apparently smashed through a warehouse door from the inside in an attempt to get away.

The seriously ill officer was airlifted to Daisy Hill hospital in Newry before being transferred to Belfast where he underwent surgery.

The PSNI said two males, one aged 17 and another 39, had been arrested and were being questioned. It is understood they were on foot at the time and were not driving the vehicle which hit the police officers.

An unknown number of others thought to be involved in the smuggling operation are being sought by the PSNI and the Garda.